Venezuela's Maduro said the deployment of US ships in the Caribbean represented the greatest threat to the region in 100 years. The US claims it is only addressing drug trafficking.
Venezuela on Monday accused the United States of threatening its sovereignty by pointing "1,200 missiles" from US ships in the Caribbean Sea.
The US deployed warships to the southern Caribbean in what the White House called an anti-drug trafficking operation.
The US Coast Guard and Navy ships have a presence in the southern Caribbean, but the recent buildup has been significantly larger than usual deployments in the region.
"Venezuela is confronting the biggest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years," Maduro told journalists, officials, and uniformed military brass in Caracas.
"A situation like this has never been seen," he added.
US President Donald Trump's administration has accused Maduro of leading a drug cartel and had recently doubled the bounty for the Venezuelan president's capture to $50 million (€42.7 million).
In response to the perceived threat, Maduro said he "would constitutionally declare a republic in arms" if the South American country were attacked.
The US has so far denied any plans to invade Venezuela, but relations between the two countries have grown sour, with the US not recognizing Maduro's last two re-elections in 2024 and 2018.
The Venezuelan president said the US was "seeking a regime change through military threat."
"In the face of this maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum preparedness for the defense of Venezuela," Maduro said regarding the deployment of US ships, which he characterized as "an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat."
Meanwhile, Venezuela's neighbor Guyana welcomed the US military deployment.
Tensions between the two countries have escalated since ExxonMobil discovered massive oil deposits a decade ago off the coast of Essequibo, a region that makes up two-thirds of Guyana's territory but is disputed by Venezuela.
President Irfaan Ali said his country "will support anything to eliminate any threat to our security" in response to a question about the deployment of US warships to the Caribbean near the Venezuelan coast.
On Sunday, Guyana publicly accused Venezuela of firing shots at a boat carrying election materials in the oil-rich Essequibo region, which both countries claim.
Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez responded on Monday by accusing Guyana of "trying to create a war front."
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NiceTuBeNice on September 2nd, 2025 at 01:31 UTC »
I have friends that managed to get out of Venezuela. Hearing their stories makes me want a regime change too.
OnlyRise9816 on September 2nd, 2025 at 00:36 UTC »
Yeah, sure the US want's Maduro gone, But 4.5k marines and a handle of Destroyers isn't the force we would send to do that. Unless pretty much everyone in the Pentagon and the entire part of the administration involved in Geopolitics has entirely lost their shit. Which, Trump notwithstanding, is VERY unlikely.
origami_anarchist on September 2nd, 2025 at 00:13 UTC »
I mean, when you put a $50 million dollar bounty on a narco-dictator's head, yeah regime change is kind of hinted at, you don't need the naval ships near your waters to tell you that, Mr. Maduro.