Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro declares a state of maximum preparedness is response to the US deploying at least seven warships to the southern Caribbean. In August, US Attorney General Pam Bondi declared that Maduro “is one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world and a threat to the national security” of the United States. Caracas has always denied these accusations, but within hours of Bondi’s statement, more than 4,000 US military personnel were deployed to Caribbean waters. #