Venezuela's Maduro Says He's Calling All Militia Members To Enlist To The Army: 'I Have Issued a Call-up'

Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro said he is issuing a call to arms to all militia members and will enlist them to join the army during the weekend as U.S. forces approach its coast.

During a public allocution on Friday, Maduro said the process will take place on Saturday and Sunday at "military barracks and public squares, as well as militia centers." "I call to arms to all militia members," Maduro added.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the U.S. has ordered an amphibious squadron to the region as part of the deployment. Concretely, the USS San Antonio, USS Iowa Jima and USS Fort Lauderdale will carry 4,500 service members, including 2,200 marines. They could arrive as early as Sunday.

The development is completely dominating the conversation in the South American country. Maduro has also called on friendly countries to "unite" to defend its "right to sovereignty, peace and self-determination."

Speaking at an extraordinary ALBA-TCP summit, Maduro began with a call to "the national unity of all Venezuelans to guarantee peace with sovereignty, territorial integrity, self-determination of the peoples."

He then addressed the group's countries, saying "I dare, brothers of Latin America and the Caribbean, to call for the union of all rebel people, social movements, to defend Venezuela's right to sovereignty, peace, self-determination and its own development."

In the meantime, the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela has urged American citizens and those residing in the country to refrain from traveling to the South American country due to a series of risks.

In a social media post, the embassy said those linked to the U.S. in the country face "grave risks of illegal detention, torture while in detention, terrorism, kidnapping, unfair police actions, violent crime and civil unrest."