Venezuela’s President threatens retaliation against Trump as U.S. deploys warships to the Caribbean

Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, has threatened retaliation after the United States government recently deployed warships near his country in the Caribbean.  Speaking during a news conference Monday in Caracas, Maduro said his country was at ‘maximum preparedness’ to boost its maritime force in the waters off Venezuela this week.  The United States has already ordered the deployment of spy planes, a warship, and even a submarine to the Southern Caribbean Sea to address the growing threat posed by Latin American drug cartels. ‘In the face of this maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum preparedness for the defense of Venezuela,’ Maduro said of the U.S. deployment, which he characterized as ‘an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.’  He also warned that U.S. military action against Venezuela would ‘stain’ President Donald Trumps ‘hands with blood’. ‘President Donald Trump, the pursuit of regime change is exhausted; it has failed as a policy worldwide,’ Maduro said. ‘You cannot pretend to impose a situation in Venezuela.’  The dictator also called Secretary of State Marco Rubio a ‘warlord’ pushing for action in the Caribbean to topple Venezuelas Left-wing regime.   The U.S. has not signaled any planned land invasion by the thousands of personnel being deployed.  Maduro also used his news conference to insist that he was the legitimate winner of last years presidential election.  But credible evidence has shown the contrary, prompting several countries, including the U.S., to not recognize Maduro as Venezuelas president.  Maduro, sworn in to a third six-year term in January, added that his regime maintains two lines of communication with the Trump administration, one with the State Department and another with Trumps envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell.   Since the July 2024 presidential election, Venezuelas political opposition has been urging the U.S. and other countries to pressure Maduro into leaving office.   Last month, opposition leader Mara Corina Machado thanked Trump and Rubio for the deployment of the vessels, describing the move as ‘the right approach ‘toward Venezuelas government, which she described as a ‘criminal enterprise’.  The post Venezuela’s President threatens retaliation against Trump as U.S. deploys warships totheCaribbean appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.