Venezuela has said it would seek a United Nations probe of US strikes that killed 14 alleged drug traffickers on at least two boats in international waters off its coast.
"The use of missiles and nuclear weapons to murder defenseless fishermen on a small boat are crimes against humanity that must be investigated by the United Nations," Venezuela's Attorney General Tarek William Saab said in a statement on Friday.
US President Donald Trump says American forces have "knocked off" three boats but Washington has only provided details and video footage of two strikes on alleged "narco-terrorists" as part of a US anti-drug naval deployment.
Venezuela has accused the US of waging an "undeclared war" in the Caribbean, where Washington has deployed warships and blown up alleged drug boats in recent weeks.
"It is an undeclared war, and you can already see how people, whether or not they are drug traffickers, have been executed in the Caribbean Sea. Executed without the right to a defence," Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said in a statement.
"Pursuit of regime change"
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro also announced recently that troops will provide residents of low-income neighbourhoods with weapons training.
Maduro accuses the Trump administration of planning an invasion in pursuit of regime change.
Venezuela says it has begun military exercises on its Caribbean island of La Orchila in response to US military activity in the region.
The US boat attack has been referred to as "extrajudicial execution" by UN experts.
"There will be air defense deployments with armed drones, surveillance drones, submarine drones... We are going to implement electronic warfare actions," Lopez said this week.
Public television showed images of amphibious vessels and warships deployed off La Orchila, where Venezuela has a military base.
Tensions between the two nations escalated after US President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of warships to the Caribbean to combat Latin American drug cartels.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of leading a drug cartel and has doubled the reward for his capture to $50 million.
