Venezuela rallies militia volunteers

CIVIL servants, housewives and retirees alike lined up in Venezuela's capital Caracas at the weekend as thousands volunteered to join the country’s militia in case there is a US invasion.

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President Nicolas Maduro called on citizens to respond to the current US “threat” and sign up over the weekend to the Bolivarian Militia, a civilian corps linked to the South American country’s armed forces.

The show of force is also intended to send a message to Washington, which has issued a $50 million (about R872m) bounty for Maduro - who is accused by the Trump administration of leading a drug cartel - and has stationed three warships off Venezuela's coast for what the US says are anti-drug operations.

Militia registration centres were set up in the capital’s squares, military and public buildings and even in the presidential palace Miraflores.

Volunteers could also sign up in the Mountain Barracks, which is home to the mausoleum of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, in a densely populated area with large housing projects and crumbling brick houses.