Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has announced the deployment of 4.5 million militia members across the country, calling it a direct response to what he described as American “threats” following the recent deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean.
“This week I will activate a special plan with more than 4.5 million militia members to guarantee full coverage of our national territory. Prepared, activated, and armed militias,” Maduro declared on national television Monday evening.
The United States recently doubled the bounty for Maduro’s capture to $50 million, accusing him of being part of a drug trafficking network.
According to official sources, the Venezuelan militia, founded by the late President Hugo Chávez, consists of around five million members—both civilians and reservists—who operate under the command of the national army.
Criticizing what he called America’s “rotten quarrel with extravagant, insane, and foolish threats”, Maduro insisted that “rifles and rockets must be placed in the hands of peasants to defend the land, sovereignty, and peace of Venezuela, and in the hands of the working class to defend the homeland.”
Meanwhile, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello responded to U.S. actions by asserting:
“We are also deployed throughout the Caribbean that belongs to us, in our waters, our property, and Venezuelan territory.”
Last week, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio announced that American naval and air forces had been deployed to the Caribbean for anti-narcotics operations, shortly after Washington increased its reward for Maduro.
