Venezuela’s Maduro says he is ready to declare state of emergency if US attacks

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he is preparing to declare a state of emergency to protect his country in the event of an attack by the US military, amid rising tensions over the deployment of American warships to the Caribbean.

In a televised address Monday, he told the country the “consultation process” had begun to declare “a state of external unrest, in accordance with the Constitution, and to protect our people, our peace, and our stability … should Venezuela be attacked by the US empire, militarily attacked.”

The address follows weeks of rising tensions following the US deployment of warships to the Caribbean Sea on what Washington insists is a mission to combat drug trafficking…