President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela has warned that he would respond to any US military action with an “armed fight” and claimed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was trying to draw President Donald Trump into a war in the Caribbean that would mar his reputation.“Mr. President, Donald Trump,” the Venezuelan leader said Monday, “watch out, because Mr. Rubio wants to stain your hands with blood.”Just a day later, on Tuesday afternoon, Trump announced that the United States had conducted a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean, near Venezuela, against a drug vessel that the administration said had departed from the South American nation.The strike and Maduro’s statements come amid rising tensions between the two nations. In late August, the United States began moving warships and troops into the Caribbean, near Venezuelan waters — which the Trump administration has said was to combat drug trafficking.But the size of the military buildup has led to speculation over whether the real goal is to oust Maduro, through military action or other pressure.Rubio said recently that “for the first time in the modern era,” the U.S. government was “truly on the offense” against organized cartels sending drugs to the United States. He and other officials in the Trump administration have called Maduro an illegitimate leader and his government a “narco-terror cartel.”Jimmy Story, a former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela during Trump’s first term, said in an interview that using so much military might to take out drug trafficking boats was a bit like “using a blowtorch to cook an egg.”Story continues below this adMaduro, in his news conference on Monday, called the Venezuelan people “warriors” who would respond to any incursion with “maximum rebellion.” But as he seemingly tried to project force, Maduro also called for peace, an apparent attempt to appeal to Trump’s campaign promise to end wars — not start them.He mentioned the Nobel Peace Prize — an apparent allusion to Trump’s stated interest in receiving it — and said that Rubio, a longtime proponent of aggressive action that could lead to a change of government in Venezuela, “wants the last name Trump to be stained with blood for centuries.”The Venezuelan leader also acknowledged that his government in recent months has had two separate channels of dialogue with the Trump administration: one with Richard Grenell, a special envoy, and another with John McNamara, the top U.S. diplomat to Venezuela, who answers to Rubio.While the relationship between the two countries was currently in “bad shape,” Maduro conceded, he said he believed it could be repaired.Story continues below this adTrump, he said, was “an intelligent, bold man. He’ll know what to do. Hopefully those channels can be recovered.”Maduro called the naval buildup “the greatest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years” in the form of “eight military ships with 1,200 missiles” targeting Venezuela.The deployment includes several guided-missile destroyers and ships carrying 4,500 sailors and 2,200 Marines, according to Defense Department officials.On Friday, Rubio traveled to Florida to meet with military leaders at U.S. Southern Command to discuss security issues in the region, according to the State Department.Story continues below this adThis week he is scheduled to travel to Mexico and Ecuador, trips the Trump administration says are meant to advance the U.S. government’s “unwavering commitment to protect its borders, neutralize narco-terrorist threats to our homeland and ensure a level playing field for American businesses.”In retaliation for the naval buildup, Maduro could decide to stop receiving flights of Venezuelans deported from the United States, which could hamper Trump’s efforts to meet his goal of deporting millions of migrants.But asked whether he would consider halting the flights, the Venezuelan leader said that the planes were a part of the bilateral relationship “that has gone well,” suggesting that he had no plans to end them.This article originally appeared