Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Monday (September 1) that eight US military vessels with 1,200 missiles were targeting his country, which he declared to be in a state of “maximum readiness to defend” itself.The United States, which accuses Maduro of heading a drug cartel, has announced a deployment of warships to the south Caribbean in what it labeled an anti-drug trafficking operation. It has made no invasion threat.Yet Maduro railed at a meeting with international media in Caracas Monday against “the greatest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years” in the form of “eight military ships with 1,200 missiles and a submarine targeting Venezuela.”One of the ships, a guided missile cruiser, was spotted going through the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean Friday night.Maduro said that “in response to maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum readiness to defend Venezuela.” n18oc_world n18oc_crux0:00 INTRODUCTION2:23 MADURO SLAMS “GREATEST THREAT” TO VENEZUELA4:48 “RUBIO WANTS TO STAIN YOUR HANDS WITH BLOOD”6:22 IS VENEZUELA REALLY THE EPICENTRE OF GLOBAL NARCO TRADE?