CARACAS (Reuters) -Venezuela is facing the biggest threat seen in South America in a century but will not bow to it, President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday in a rare press conference.
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela have risen in recent weeks amid a large U.S. naval buildup in the Southern Caribbean and nearby waters, which U.S. officials say aims to address threats from Latin American drug cartels.
U.S. President Donald Trump has made cracking down on drug cartels a central goal of his administration, part of a wider effort to limit migration and secure the U.S. southern border.
But Maduro, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and other officials have said the U.S. is threatening their country with the naval deployments and that the buildup is part of an effort to justify an intervention against them.
“Venezuela is confronting the biggest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years,” Maduro told journalists, officials and uniformed military brass in Caracas. “A situation like this has never been seen.”
His country is peaceful, Maduro added, but will not bow to threats.
Venezuela’s government has scoffed at U.S. assertions that the country and its leadership are key to major international drug trafficking.
In early August, the United States doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million over allegations of drug trafficking and links to criminal groups.
(Reporting by Reuters)
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