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(Reuters) – Two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Caribbean on Thursday, a U.S. official told Reuters, triggering a stern U.S. warning to Venezuela against interfering in intensifying U.S. military operations in the Caribbean.
The incident, which the Pentagon said occurred in international waters, further raises tensions just two days after a U.S. strike killed 11 people aboard a vessel from Venezuela that President Donald Trump said was carrying illegal narcotics.
Legal experts have raised questions about the attack, despite the Trump administration arguments that it has the authority to strike alleged members of criminal gang Tren de Aragua trafficking drugs to the United States after Washington designated it terrorist organization earlier this year.
In a terse statement confirming only the broad outlines of the incident, the Pentagon equated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government to a narco-trafficking cartel, allegations Caracas denies. Trump has accused Maduro of running Tren de Aragua.
“Today, two Maduro regime military aircraft flew near a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters,” the Pentagon said in a statement, calling it a “highly provocative move.”
“The cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter or interfere with counter-narcotics and counter-terror operations carried out by the U.S. military.”
Venezuela’s Communications Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Venezuelan military aircraft were F-16s and that they flew over the USS Jason Dunham.
The Dunham is one of at least seven U.S. warships deployed to the Caribbean, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines, in a military buildup that has drawn concern from Caracas.
U.S. Marines and sailors from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit have also been carrying out amphibious training and flight operations in southern Puerto Rico.
Trump’s decision to blow up a suspected drug vessel passing through the Caribbean, instead of seizing the vessel and apprehending its crew, is highly unusual and evokes memories of the U.S. fight against militant groups like al Qaeda.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the strike in comments to reporters earlier on Thursday and vowed such activities would continue, citing the threat that illegal narcotics pose to public health in the United States.
“The poisoning of the American people is over,” Hegseth said.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, condemned what she called Trump’s “lawless” actions in the southern Caribbean.
“Congress has not declared war on Venezuela, or Tren de Aragua, and the mere designation of a group as a terrorist organization does not give any President carte blanche to ignore Congress’s clear Constitutional authority on matters of war and peace,” Omar said in a statement.
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Trump say no drugs!!! Why they fight Trump? If no drugs just let them realize they are waisting there time… But that’s not the case Venezuelan government need money they working with cartels…
Murder in International waters. Only America can get away with a crime like that. No proof no court conviction. Nothing. Just one man claims that you were carrying drugs and you were heading to the USA. Lawlessness will continue in the world if no one can be held accountable. Tell me if you claim to have so many vessels in the region how come the ship was not detected by the vessels and stopped and crew arrested. If you bomb the ship where then is the proof of heaving drugs. We certainly do not have short memory. Saddan Housein was also suppose to have Weapons of Mass Disrtruction. And we killed hundreds of thousand Iraques because of that. And never did you hear a public appology for misleading the enrtire world. Never did you hear about repaying Irqay for the loss if thousands. And we all sit back and watch how one country can go rogue with impunity. That is the way of the world we live in today. And yet the end is not near.
Tell them keep they war over there
They need to ensure they dont come around our waters with their nonesence
Instead of building cooperation, the U.S. seems determined to bully Venezuela and escalate the situation.