Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is ready to declare a state of emergency over the threat of US “aggression”, following a spate of deadly US strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez said on Monday. A government source, however, told Agence France-Presse that Maduro had not yet signed the document. “The vice-president presented the document to show that everything was ready and that the president can decree it at any time,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The left-wing authoritarian Maduro placed Venezuela on high alert over a major US military deployment near his country’s coast. Venezuela’s Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez in Caracas on Monday.