CARACAS, Oct 1, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was awarded an honorary doctorate Tuesday from a military academy as Caracas stares down the United States in a tense standoff in the Caribbean.

Donning a medal, a red beret and a black tunic, Maduro was given a degree in "security issues" from the Bolivarian Military University, one of 12 military academies in the country, as Venezuela confronts a six-week-old US deployment of warships off its coast.

The US forces have attacked and destroyed boats they said were carrying drugs from Venezuela towards the United States, while Caracas has likened the deployment to being under siege.

"I have my tunic and my combat beret," Maduro said of his cap, reminiscent of one his late mentor, the socialist icon Hugo Chavez, used to wear.

Maduro spoke on a stage at the university while accompanied by Defense minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez and other senior military officials.

Giving a "master class" after receiving his degree, the authoritarian leftist defended his response to the US actions.

He has placed the country on high alert and said he is prepared to declare a state of emergency that would give him special powers in defense and security issues in the event of US "aggression."

Maduro said his response was designed to "flex national muscle" and defend Venezuela's sovereignty.

He also denied claims by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the Venezuelan military is in cahoots with drug cartels.

"I reject and repudiate the comments by Marco Rubio and I defend the morality of our soldiers," Maduro said.

US President Donald Trump asserts that Maduro leads a drug cartel himself and has billed the US warship deployment as being designed to fight drug trafficking.

The United States is now offering a $50 million dollar bounty for the arrest of Maduro.

Venezuela and other Latin American countries fear the deployment could be a dress rehearsal for an attack to oust Maduro, whom much of the West sees as a repressive and corrupt autocrat who stole the last two elections.