Venezuelan President Maduro Mobilizes 4.5 Million Militia After US $50M Bounty

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced he will mobilize over 4.5 million militia members across the country to counter what he described as renewed threats from the United States. This move follows the Trump administration's decision to double the bounty on Maduro's arrest to $50 million amid drug trafficking charges and allegations that he leads the cocaine trafficking gang Cartel de los Soles. The U.S. has also implemented sanctions against Maduro's government and deployed naval vessels in the southern Caribbean as part of its crackdown on Latin American drug cartels. Maduro condemned the U.S. threats as 'extravagant, bizarre, and outlandish' and called for the expansion of worker and peasant militias armed with rifles and missiles to defend Venezuela's sovereignty and peace. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello confirmed the presence of U.S. forces in the Caribbean, framing it as an intrusion on Venezuelan territory. Despite the heightened tensions, Maduro expressed gratitude to his supporters for standing against what he termed a 'rotten refrain' of threats from Washington.