Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro issued a sharp warning for the US on Monday — vowing to declare a ‘republic in arms’ if the country was attacked. The remarks came even as the American government boosted its maritime force in the waters off Venezuela to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels. The US has placed a $50 million bounty for information on Maduro in early August and claims he “helped manage and ultimately lead the Cartel of the Suns”. President Donald Trump has repeatedly tagged the Venezuelan leader as a “terrorist” and criminal dictator.
“In the face of this maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum preparedness for the defence of Venezuela. If Venezuela were attacked, we would immediately move to armed struggle in defence of our territory. I would constitutionally declare a republic in arms,” he said during a news conference.
The Venezuelan leader also accused the US of seeking a “regime change through military threat” — adding that it was “an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.” The White House is gearing up to deploy 4,000 troops and warships to the Caribbean for a ‘counter-narcotics mission’ within the next few days.
Maduro claimed on Monday that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was trying to push Trump into a massacre with the deployment. He also warned that US military action against Venezuela would “stain” the President’s “hands with blood.”
$50 million bounty for information on Maduro
The US State Department currently has a ‘wanted’ notice out for Maduro with a $50 million reward. The amount was raised last month after the Department of Treasury sanctioned Cartel of the Suns as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The US accuses Maduro of being one of the world’s largest narco-traffickers — collaborating with various criminal organisations and drug cartels and trafficking fentanyl-laced cocaine into the United States.
Growing US military presence
The US Navy currently has two Aegis guided-missile destroyers — the USS Gravely and the USS Jason Dunham — in the Caribbean, as well as the destroyer USS Sampson and the cruiser USS Lake Erie in the waters off Latin America. That military presence is set to expand in the coming days. A defense official told The Associated Press that three amphibious assault ships — a force that encompasses more than 4,000 sailors and Marines — will enter the region this week.
The deployment comes as the Trump pushes to use military force to thwart cartels he blames for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the US and for perpetuating violence in some cities. The US has not signaled any planned land incursion by the thousands of personnel being deployed.
The Maduro government has responded by deploying troops along its coast and border with neighboring Colombia and urging Venezuelans to enlist in a civilian militia.