CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP)-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he had deployed 25,000 troops along the Caribbean coast and the border with Colombia amid soaring tensions with US President Donald Trump.

In a message Sunday night on social media Maduro said he had deployed “25,000 men and women from our glorious National Bolivarian Armed Forces” to the frontier with Colombia and the northeast coast, where the country’s biggest oil refineries are situated.

The deployment aimed to ensure “the defense of national sovereignty, the security of the country and the fight for peace,” he added.

He did not expressly refer to Trump, who has cited the need to combat Venezuelan drug traffickers particularly in ordering the biggest naval buildup in the Caribbean in years.

Last week US forces blew up a suspected drug boat with 11 people aboard in the Caribbean.

Trump said the boat belonged to the Venezuelan crime gang Tren de Aragua but provided scant proof of the claim.

The US leader has also threatened to shoot down Venezuelan military jets if they endanger US forces after two Venezuelan planes flew near a US Navy vessel in international waters.

Venezuela’s armed forces run to around 123,000 members, according to military sources.

Maduro claims a further 220,000 people have enlisted in a civilian militia.