Maduro Says Rubio Is Trying to Stain Trump’s Hands With Blood

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused Donald Trump’s top diplomat of trying to push the US leader into a massacre with the deployment of American forces near the South American nation.

Maduro, speaking to reporters in Caracas on Monday for the first time in over a year, blasted the White House’s decision to send 4,000 troops and warships to the Caribbean in what Washington calls a counter-narcotics mission. Singling out Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he said the move risks escalating into direct confrontation.