Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro wrote to US President Donald Trump days after a US strike on an alleged drug boat and offered to engage in direct talks with special envoy Richard Grenell.

Venezuela’s Maduro has offered to help Trump’s administration hunt down leaders of the Tren de Aragua drug cartel, even as Washington steps up military pressure near Venezuelan waters and dismisses his government as illegitimate.

U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, following the lead of President Donald Trump’s anti-drug policy, is introducing legislation to target Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and suspected drug trafficking.

Venezuela is preparing an emergency decree to enact a State of Exterior Commotion amid escalating threats from the US.

In the state of Sucre, on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, the first boat to have been destroyed, on Sept. 2, is widely believed to have been carrying people from the towns of San Juan de Unare and Güiria, on a spit of land known as the Pariah Peninsula.

Venezuela has responded by sending warships and drones to patrol its coastline and launching a drive to recruit thousands of militia members.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Monday accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of repeating lies. In a letter to US President Donald Trump, Maduro had said that relations between Caracas and Washington had been clouded by "fake news,

Tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela have escalated as Washington deploys warships and troops to the Caribbean targeting drug cartels.

Venezuela, on high alert over a US military deployment off its coast that has stirred invasion fears, will hold disaster preparedness drills on Saturday as President Nicolas Maduro mulls invoking emergency powers.