ISTANBUL

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday criticized US military activities in the Caribbean, accusing Washington of planning to impose a “puppet government” in his country.

Maduro called US actions in the region “an armed aggression to impose regime change, to impose puppet governments, and to steal Venezuela’s oil, gas, gold and all natural resources.”

Speaking at an event in the capital, Caracas, Maduro ordered the mobilization of reservists and militias “if it is necessary to move from unarmed combat to armed combat.”

“Venezuela will never humiliate itself before any empire, regardless of its power or name,” Maduro warned, adding that “it will be taught, in proper measure, a moral, ethical, and political lesson in the years to come.”

Venezuela also lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council over what it called an “illegal airspace incursion” by US warplanes 75 kilometers (47 miles) off its coast.

On Friday, the US carried out another strike to target "a narco-trafficking vessel" off the coast of Venezuela, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said.

"Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike, and no U.S. forces were harmed in the operation," Hegseth said on the US social media company X.

This was the fourth strike that the US carried out in recent weeks, targeting vessels allegedly carrying illegal drugs.

Tensions between the Trump administration and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have recently escalated after the US deployed a naval group to the southern Caribbean. The US claims the force is there to combat criminal cartels and drug trafficking.

The US is also seeking a $50 million reward for Maduro's arrest.