Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced on Monday the deployment of 4.5 million militiamen throughout the country after the United States doubled the reward for information leading to his arrest and increased the number of troops sailing around Latin America and the Caribbean.

Maduro said that the activations are in response to the recent "extravagant, bizarre and outlandish" threats from the United States.

The U.S. deployed three Navy missile destroyers and around 4,000 military personnel to the waters off Venezuela in effort to thwart cartels.