Maduro claims that Venezuela is targeted by the US with “eight military ships with 1,200 missiles”. “The biggest threat seen on the continent in the last 100 years”
Nicolas Maduro, in a press conference in Caracas, Monday, September 1, 2025. Credit: ARIANA CUBILLOS / AP / Profimedia
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday that his country is targeted by US military vessels and has declared a “maximum defense training”, AFP reports.
The US, who accuses Maduro of being in charge of a drug cartel, announced the conduct of war vessels in the south of the Caribbean, in what he called an operation to combat drug trafficking. Washington did not threaten with a possible invasion.
However, in a conference with the international press on Monday, in Caracas, the president of Venezuela has insistently criticized “the biggest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years”, in the form of “eight military ships with 1,200 missiles and a submarine targeting Venezuela.”
One of the ships, a guided missile cruiser, was observed crossing the Panama channel from the Pacific Ocean in the Caribbean on Friday night.
“In response to maximum military pressure, I declared maximum training to defend Venezuela,” said President Maduro.
He claims that over 8 million Venezuelans are enrolled as reservists. Caracas has already announced increased patrols in national territorial waters.
Reward of $ 50 million on behalf of Maduro
Washington has doubled the reward for capturing Maduro, to $ 50 million, given that the US and a good part of the international community do not recognize the elections in Venezuela in 2018 and 2024 and were marked by allegations and oppression of voters, after which he was declared a winner.
Known for his heated, often anti-American tirade, Maduro said on Monday that the lines of communication with the United States have interrupted and promised that Venezuela “will never give in to the blackmail or threats of any kind.”
In the press conference on Monday, he accused the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, of trying to take President Donald Trump to “a blood bath … with a massacre against the people of Venezuela.”
In contrast, the president of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, welcomed the American military.
Guyana and Venezuela are in a dispute regarding Essequibo, a region of oil-rich border, which represents two thirds of Guyana's territory, but is also claimed by Venezuela.
The bilateral rhetoric has intensified since Exxonmobil discovered massive oil deposits a decade ago off the coast of Essequibo, which has been administered by Guyana for over 100 years.
Maduro has been in Trump's viewfinder from the first term of the current American president. However, Trump's policy of maximum pressure on Venezuela, including an embargo on oil, failed to remove Maduro from power.
Last week, Caracas asked the United Nations to intervene in dispute, demanding “the immediate cessation of the American military in the Caribbean.”
On Monday, Maduro said that Venezuela is prepared for “an armed struggle in the defense of the national territory” in the event of an attack.
