Two Venezuelan navy plane flew dangerously near a U.S. Navy destroyer in worldwide waters on Thursday, a transfer the Pentagon denounced as a deliberate try and disrupt American counter-narcotics operations within the Caribbean.
“As we speak, two Maduro regime navy plane flew close to a U.S. Navy vessel in worldwide waters. This extremely provocative transfer was designed to intrude with our counter-narco-terror operations,” the Protection Division mentioned late Thursday in a press release on its X account. “The cartel operating Venezuela is strongly suggested to not pursue any additional effort to hinder, deter, or intrude with counter-narcotics and counter-terror operations carried out by the U.S. navy.”
CBS News, citing a number of Protection Division officers, had reported earlier that the incident concerned two armed Venezuelan F-16s making a “present of pressure” over the usJason Dunham.
The aerial confrontation got here simply two days after President Donald Trump introduced that U.S. forces had carried out a deadly maritime strike within the area, killing 11 alleged members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, which Washington lately labeled a international terrorist group.
“Earlier this morning, on my orders, U.S. navy forces performed a kinetic strike in opposition to positively recognized Tren de Aragua narcoterrorists within the SOUTHCOM space of duty,” Trump posted on Reality Social. He mentioned the gang operated “below the management of Nicolás Maduro” and accused it of mass homicide, human trafficking and drug smuggling.
Trump added that the strike occurred in worldwide waters because the group tried to maneuver narcotics north. “No U.S. forces had been harmed on this strike,” he mentioned, framing the motion as a warning to traffickers. His submit included a video of a small boat exploding after being hit.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the strike in a short assertion, saying the vessel had departed Venezuela and was operated by a chosen narco-terrorist group. In subsequent remarks, Rubio mentioned the administration was ready to make use of “the complete energy of America” to dismantle cartels destabilizing the Caribbean.
The U.S. Navy at present has a big pressure deployed within the southern Caribbean, with eight warships — together with three amphibious assault ships, a nuclear-powered submarine and surveillance plane — doing counter-narcotics patrols. Officers say the group, with about 4,500 sailors and Marines, is succesful not solely of stopping traffickers at sea but additionally of projecting floor forces ashore if ordered.
Washington has more and more tied its counter-narcotics push to its broader marketing campaign in opposition to the Maduro authorities. The U.S. has indicted Maduro on drug conspiracy fees, positioned a $50 million bounty on his seize, and accused the Venezuelan chief and senior navy officers of operating the so-called Cartel of the Suns.
Maduro has dismissed the allegations as a part of a U.S. regime-change technique and vowed to mobilize militias to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty.
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