Overview

• Maduro said he will launch a plan this week to deploy more than 4.5 million militia members across Venezuela, describing them as prepared, activated and armed.
• Earlier this month the United States doubled its reward for Maduro’s arrest to $50 million and accused him of leading the Cartel de los Soles, announcing related sanctions last month.
• Reuters reported three U.S. guided-missile destroyers—the USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham and USS Sampson—are heading to the southern Caribbean for anti-drug operations, with arrival expected within days and about 4,000 personnel involved.
• Maduro urged the expansion of worker and peasant militias and pledged to equip them with rifles and missiles, while Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said Venezuelan forces are deployed throughout the Caribbean.
• Official tallies put militia membership near five million, though analysts say the real figure is smaller, and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum said her government has no evidence linking Maduro to the Sinaloa cartel.