Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro rejected US allegations of being a drug trafficker and asked President Donald Trump for dialogue, according to a letter released Sunday by Caracas, as tensions soar between the two countries. "It is the worst fake news that has been launched against our country in an escalation in an armed conflict that would do catastrophic damage to the whole continent," the letter states. Maduro urged Trump to "keep the peace with dialogue and understanding in the entire hemisphere." The US military deployment has been widely denounced in Latin America, stoking fears that the United States is planning to attack Venezuela. The United States is attacking and destroying vessels rather than seizing them and arresting their crew, which is the normal procedure in anti-drug operations.