Maduro calls on all compatriots to unite and join the militia

(Patria) - Venezuela's authoritarian regime plans to further recruit people into the militia branch of the country's armed forces, amid growing US threats over the authorities' alleged involvement in international drug trafficking.

Responding to the call, volunteers have been signing up for the Bolivarian Militia of Venezuela in barracks and squares across the country, state television Telesur reported yesterday.

- We call on all the people to unite and join the militia. We tell imperialism: stop the threats, Venezuela rejects you, Venezuela wants peace - said the country's president Nicolás Maduro.

The Bolivarian Militia is conceived as a supplement to the regular armed forces.

According to its own data, it has about 4.5 million members, including reservists, members of Maduro's United Socialist Party, employees of state-owned enterprises, and pensioners.

Despite its numbers, security experts doubt its effectiveness.

According to the US government, Maduro's regime has turned Venezuela into a narco-state, colluding with Colombian guerrillas to export drugs to Europe and the US through an organization known as the Sun Cartel, allegedly composed of high-ranking Venezuelan officials.

The US Department of Justice and the State Department on Thursday doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest - to $50 million.