Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced on Monday the deployment of 4.5 million militiamen throughout the country after the United States doubled the reward for information leading to his arrest and increased the number of troops sailing around Latin America and the Caribbean.

P resident Trump has ordered the Pentagon to send three Navy warships to interdict drug cartels off the coast of South America, including near Venezuela, expanding the Pentagon’s role in combating illegal drug smuggling and intensifying a U.S. confrontation with the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.

Maduro said that the activations are in response to the recent "extravagant, bizarre and outlandish" threats from the United States.