Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduroannounced on Monday that eight US military warships armed with 1,200 missiles are targeting Venezuela.
He declared the country to be in a state of "maximum readiness to defend" itself against any potential threats, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The United States, which accuses Maduro of heading a drug cartel, has announced a deployment of warships to the south Caribbean in what it labeled an anti-drug trafficking operation. It has made no invasion threat.
Yet Maduro railed at a meeting with international media in Caracas Monday against "the greatest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years" in the form of "eight military ships with 1,200 missiles and a submarine targeting Venezuela."
One of the ships, a guided missile cruiser, was spotted going through the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean Friday night.
Maduro said that "in response to maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum readiness to defend Venezuela."
He said more than eight million Venezuelans have enlisted as reservists. Caracas has already announced increased patrols of its territorial waters.
Washington has doubled to $50 million a bounty for the capture of Maduro, whose re-election in 2024 and 2018 were not recognized by the United States or much of the international community amid allegations of fraud and voter oppression.
