Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro approved a plan on Thursday to manufacture machine guns across Venezuela despite a nationwide ban on the use of firearms.

In a video streamed by Venezuelan state propaganda outlet VTV, Maduro announced the approval of funds for a new line of machine guns to be produced in Venezuela.

“Here they are asking me to fund the Caribe machine gun. Because it is already a fact that the machine gun, it can be a support weapon for the Bolivarian Militia, for the National Bolivarian Police, for the local police,” Maduro declared. “But I also see this machine gun in the hands of the Militia inside the favelas, on the streets, right?”

“So I’m going to approve these funds in order to keep going forward on a new direction, on a clear path to doing our weaponry system,” he said.

“‘It is recommended,’ says here the document sent by [Defense Minister Vladimir] Padrino López, ‘to Nicolás Maduro, commander in chief of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces, to approve 6,833,385 euros in funding for the activation of the 9.19 mm Caribe machine gun production line project at the General Management Office of the Metal-Mechanics sector in Maracay,’” he continued. “Approved. Forward, forward, forward!”

#DIRECTO 🔴 | Presidente @NicolasMaduro aprueba recursos para la activación del proyecto de creación de la línea de producción de la ametralladora Caribe calibre 9.19mm#VenezuelaTrabajoYProduccion pic.twitter.com/SvFt2aViGw — VTV CANAL 8 (@VTVcanal8) May 23, 2019

As Maduro openly admitted, the use of such weapons would only be for the military and state security services, allowing them to step up their repression and control of the country’s population to create a Cuba-style communist dictatorship.

Under the rule of the late Hugo Chávez, gun rights were gradually dissolved as part of his “Bolivarian Revolution.” The final repeal of those rights was in 2012, when private gun ownership was outlawed nationwide via the “Disarmament Law.”

The legislation ended all commercial sales of firearms and ammunition to the public. Today, only the Army, police, and other state security apparatuses are allowed to possess firearms. As recently noted by Breitbart News, many conservatives in Venezuela are beginning to demand individual gun rights to protect themselves and possibly overthrow the socialist regime.

Despite the ban on firearms, Venezuela remains one of the world’s most violent and dangerous nations. Tens of thousands of people are killed every year as a result of gun violence. Civilians most often in possession of firearms are members of Chavista gangs loyal to the regime, who use them to intimidate and control impoverished communities with the ongoing threat of violence.

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