Two Venezuelan military aircraft flew over an American Navy in international waters, according to the Pentagon, a new climb between the two opponents after the US reached a speedboat that allegedly transported drugs from the country.
The armed Venezuelan fighters flying over US destroyer USS Jason Dunham in the Caribbean Sea, as a US officer told Reuters news agency.
“This highly provocative maneuver has been planned to interfere with our anti -tricks,” the Pentagon said. In addition, he said that the “cartel” that commands Venezuela is “strongly advised” not to interfere with any other US operation.
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The Pentagon did not immediately provided more information, such as the proximity of the jets with the American ship or where exactly the American ship was located when the incident occurred. The Venezuela Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to requests for comment
Days earlier, the US had reached an alleged drug trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, which, according to them, came from Venezuela, in an attack that generated national and international criticism for the apparent death of civilians. The US has sent several ships with about 4,000 naval sailors and Marines to the Caribbean, in which they have described as an effort to repress drug trafficking.
The measures generated speculation that President Donald Trump – who promised not to involve the US in more international conflicts – would be trying to take President Nicolás Maduro out of power. The previous Thursday, Maduro went to state television and summoned all military reservists to mobilize to their local community offices.
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The overflow occurred on the same day as Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Ecuador on a trip to raise support for the US pressure campaign. Rubio said the US was prepared for more such attacks against Venezuela and signaled that they were willing to take even more aggressive measures.
“We will continue to hunt, as we have always done, but this time we will not just hunt drug traffickers or their small quick boats and say: Let’s try to arrest them,” Rubio told reporters in a briefing. “The president said he wants to declare war on these groups because they have been declaring us war 30 years ago and no one has responded.”
The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and Rubio defended the US attack and warned that more attacks may occur, stating that the US government intended to send a message to drug traffickers.
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Hours later, the Trump government ordered 10 F-35 fighters to the Caribbean to perform drug cartel operations, two US sources told Reuters. They will go to the air base in Puerto Rico, near the region where American war ships are mobilized.
(with Bloomberg and Reuters)
