WASHINGTON, DC – The Pentagon said two Venezuelan military planes flew near a US Navy vessel in international waters Thursday in a “highly provocative” move that marked a new escalation in the standoff over Washington’s Caribbean deployment.
“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 US military,” the Defense Department said on X.
Washington has deployed warships in the south Caribbean as tensions rise between US President Donald Trump and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, whom the United States accuses of leading a drug cartel.
On Tuesday, US forces blew up an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean that Trump said belonged to the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organization he tied to Maduro, killing 11 people.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a trip to Latin America, defended the new aggressive approach in a joint press conference with Ecuador Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld in Quito on Thursday. AFP
“Now, they’re going to help us find these people and blow them up if that’s what it takes,” Rubio said.
In remarks made in Mexico on Wednesday, Rubio said: “These cartels know they’re going to lose two percent of their cargo… What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.”
In Mexico, Rubio emphasized that Trump has designated Venezuelan groups like the Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles as “narcoterrorist organizations.”
“These are not stockbrokers. These are not real estate agents who on the side deal a few drugs,” Rubio said. AFP
