Kathmandu, Oct. 23 -- President Nicolas Maduro said Wednesday that Venezuela has 5,000 Russian man-portable surface-to-air missiles to counter US forces deployed in the Caribbean.

Washington has deployed stealth warplanes and Navy ships in the Caribbean as part of what it calls counter-narcotics efforts, and destroyed at least eight vessels it said were smuggling drugs from Venezuela toward the United States.

Venezuela has denounced the deployment as a dress rehearsal for an operation to oust Maduro, whom Washington accuses of running a drug cartel.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Republica....