The United States has said the deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean, near Venezuela's territorial waters, was an anti-drug trafficking operation.

The move drew the ire of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who called the operation a "threat" to his country.

Ortega accused the Trump administration in a speech on Tuesday of deploying warships "to intimidate Latin American governments", adding "they do it to intimidate people and to try to overthrow governments."

Trump celebrated on Tuesday the killing of 11 so-called "narcoterrorists" in a US naval strike on a small speed boat, claiming in a social media post that they were part of a drug cartel controlled by Maduro.

"How do they prove that they were drug traffickers and that they were carrying drugs to the United States?" Ortega asked. "That's all theater."

Ortega, a 79-year-old former guerrilla in power since 2007, also accused the United States of being incapable of controlling drug consumption and shift demand.