Overview

• In a televised address, Nicolás Maduro said he will activate a nationwide plan to field more than 4.5 million militia members who he described as prepared, activated and armed.
• Maduro urged the creation of worker and peasant militias in all industries and vowed to equip them with rifles and missiles to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty.
• The Trump administration this month doubled its reward for Maduro’s arrest to $50 million, imposed new sanctions, and accuses him of leading the Cartel de los Soles.
• Officials briefed on U.S. plans told Reuters that three guided‑missile destroyers with about 4,000 sailors and Marines are moving to the southern Caribbean, with arrival off Venezuela expected within days.
• Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said government forces are deployed throughout the Caribbean, while Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum publicly rejected U.S. claims linking Maduro to the Sinaloa Cartel.