Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro briefly broke into song during a Saturday rally, singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” as he urged people to embrace a message of peace amid rising tensions with the United States.

Maduro’s performance comes as the USS Gerald R. Ford —the most advanced aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy—entered the Caribbean on Sunday, adding a major military backdrop to an already volatile standoff and underscoring the sharp contrast between Maduro’s symbolic gesture and the growing U.S. naval presence.

Newsweek has contacted the State Department and Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry for comment.

Why It Matters

The USS Gerald R. Ford is part of a massive U.S. naval and military deployment in the Caribbean, highlighting the widening rift between Washington and Carac

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