Overview

• Venezuela is integrating its 4.5 million militiamen into community security operations and has called a weekend alistamiento for militiamen, reservists and civilians.
• Maduro said the national defensive system is activated and in permanent session as authorities stage televised events to project readiness.
• The Pentagon has deployed three destroyers — USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham and USS Sampson — with roughly 4,000 marines to waters near Venezuela on an anti-narcotics mission that U.S. defense officials say will last for months.
• U.S. pressure includes a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, Department of Justice seizures exceeding $700 million in assets, and DEA claims that Caracas works with Colombian guerrilla groups to move record cocaine shipments.
• The U.S. External Office for Venezuela urged Americans not to travel to or remain in the country due to detention and security risks, while ALBA governments and China condemned the U.S. naval deployment as a threat to sovereignty.