Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday claimed that his country is facing its ‘biggest threat’ in 100 years and that the United States is seeking regime change in his country as President Donald Trump has authorized a naval buildup in the Caribbean.
The U.S. says the military deployment is an effort to disrupt drug cartel activity, according to Fox News, and that it is part of Trump’s broader border policy. But Maduro sees it as an intervention in Venezuelan affairs.
“They are seeking a regime change through military threat,” Maduro said in his nation’s capital, Caracas, speaking to journalists, military brass and other officials. “Venezuela is confronting the biggest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years,” Maduro added. “A situation like this has never been seen.”
The Trump administration recently announced a doubling of the reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction, to $50 million. They have accused Maduro of engaging in drug trafficking.
“These cartels have engaged in historic violence and terror throughout our hemisphere—and around the globe—that has destabilized the economies and internal security of countries, while also flooding the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said during an Aug. 19 news conference.
