Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has signed a decree granting him additional security powers in case of a military incursion into the country, the nation’s Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, said on Monday (September 29, 2025).

The decree would allow Mr. Maduro to mobilize armed forces throughout the country and give the military authority over public services and the oil industry.

Mr. Maduro last week said he would submit the decree for consideration. It was unclear when it was signed.

The powers would be valid for 90 days, with the option to be renewed for 90 more, according to the nation’s Constitution.

The measure comes as the U.S. has deployed a fleet of warships in the Caribbean, which Washington says is to combat drug trafficking through the region. Maduro’s government alleges that the U.S. is plotting to remove him from power.

The U.S. military in recent weeks has struck several boats it claims were carrying illicit drugs from Venezuela, killing those aboard. Experts have questioned the legality of the move.

“What the U.S. government, what warlord Marco Rubio is doing against Venezuela is a threat,” Ms. Rodriguez told diplomats in a meeting on Monday.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Personnel from a U.S. warship boarded a Venezuelan tuna boat with nine fishermen while it was sailing in Venezuelan waters, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister said on Saturday (September 13, 2025), underlining strained relations with the United States.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tensions between the two nations escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump in August ordered the deployment of warships in the Caribbean, off the coast of the South American country, citing the fight against Latin American drug cartels.

While reading a statement on Saturday (September 13, 2025), Foreign Minister Yván Gil told journalists the Venezuelan tuna boat was “illegally and hostilely boarded by a United States Navy destroyer” and 18 armed personnel who remained on the vessel for eight hours, preventing communication and the fishermen’s normal activities. They were then released under escort by the Venezuelan navy.

The fishing boat had authorisation from the Ministry of Fisheries to carry out its work, Gil said at a press conference, during which he presented a video of the incident.

“Those who give the order to carry out such provocations are seeking an incident that would justify a military escalation in the Caribbean,” Mr. Gil said, adding that the objective is to “persist in their failed policy” of regime change in Venezuela.

Venezuela on extrajudicial killings

Mr. Gil said the incident was “illegal” and “illegitimate” and warned that Venezuela will defend its sovereignty against any “provocation.” The Venezuelan Foreign Minister’s complaint comes days after Mr. Trump said that his country had attacked a drug-laden vessel and killed 11 people on board. Mr. Trump said the vessel had departed from Venezuela and was carrying members of the Tren de Aragua gang, but his administration has not presented any evidence to support that claim.

Venezuela accused the United States of committing extrajudicial killings. The South American country’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, said Washington’s version is “a tremendous lie” and suggested that, according to Venezuelan government investigations, the incident could be linked to the disappearance of some individuals in a coastal region of the country who had no ties to drug trafficking.

The Trump administration has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a cartel to flood the U.S. with drugs, and doubled the reward for his capture from $25 million to $50 million.

The U.S. government has given no indication that it plans to carry out a ground incursion with the more than 4,000 troops being deployed in the area.

But the Venezuelan government has nonetheless called on its citizens to enlist in the militias – armed volunteers – in support of its security forces in the event of a potential incursion. On Saturday (September 13, 2025), it urged them to go to military barracks for training sessions.

A U.S. guided missile cruiser, USS Lake Erie, was seen crossing the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean on Friday (August 29, 2025) night, after the Trump administration deployed warships near the coast of Venezuela.

AFP journalists saw the naval vessel passing through one of the canal’s locks at around 9:30 p.m. (0230 GMT Saturday) and navigating east toward the Atlantic.

The United States has said the deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean, near Venezuela’s territorial waters, was an anti-drug trafficking operation.

“I didn’t know the ship was going to pass… I was surprised,” Alfredo Cedeno, a 32-year-old health technician, who took photos of the cruiser, told AFP.

The Lake Erie had been moored for the past two days at the Port of Rodman, at the canal’s Pacific entrance.

Washington has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of leading a drug cartel and has doubled the bounty for his capture to $50 million.

The United States has, however, made no public threat to invade Venezuela.

Caracas announced on Monday the deployment of 15,000 security forces to the Colombian border for anti-drug trafficking operations.

A day later, Venezuela announced that it would patrol its territorial waters with drones and navy ships.

Mr. Maduro also claimed to have mobilized more than four million militia members in response to U.S. “threats.”

The 567-foot-long (173 meters) USS Lake Erie displaces 9,800 tons and is based in the port of San Diego, California.