With the US assembling a force off its Caribbean coast, Venezuela's president accused the American government on Monday of pursuing a regime change in his country. Trump administration officials have said the goal of the deployment is to combat Latin American drug cartels; Venezuelans officials call that a pretense. "They are seeking a regime change through military threat," President Nicolas Maduro said at a press conference that included military officials in Caracas, Reuters reports. "Venezuela is confronting the biggest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years."
Should the US attack the South American country, Maduro said he'll "constitutionally declare a republic in arms," per the AP. He described Venezuela's military as "super prepared." Also on Monday, Foreign Minister Yván Gil told his counterparts in several Latin American countries that the US deployment is built on a false narrative, as 87% of cocaine produced in Colombia departs through the Pacific, and traffickers try to move just 5% of their product through Venezuela. The US forces are on the Atlantic side. And many shipments that reach the US through the Caribbean come on clandestine flights, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's 2023 Global Report on Cocaine.
Maduruo's opposition has thanked Trump for the deployment, calling Venezuela's current government a "criminal enterprise." In his press conference, Maduro said a US military action would "stain" Trump's "hands with blood" and made a historical point. "President Donald Trump, the pursuit of regime change is exhausted; it has failed as a policy worldwide," he said. "You cannot pretend to impose a situation in Venezuela."
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