Two Venezuelan military aircraft flew dangerously close to a U.S. Navy destroyer in international waters on Thursday, a move the Pentagon denounced as a deliberate attempt to disrupt American counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean.
“Today, two Maduro regime military aircraft flew near a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters. This highly provocative move was designed to interfere with our counter-narco-terror operations,” the Defense Department said late Thursday in a statement on its X account. “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.”
CBS News, citing multiple Defense Department officials, had reported earlier that the incident involved two armed Venezuelan F-16s making a “show of force” over the USS Jason Dunham.
The aerial confrontation came just two days after President Donald Trump announced that U.S. forces had carried out a lethal maritime strike in the region, killing 11 alleged members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, which Washington recently labeled a foreign terrorist organization.
“Earlier this morning, on my orders, U.S. military forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Trump posted on Truth Social. He said the gang operated “under the control of Nicolás Maduro” and accused it of mass murder, human trafficking and drug smuggling.
Trump added that the strike occurred in international waters as the group attempted to move narcotics north. “No U.S. forces were harmed in this strike,” he said, framing the action as a warning to traffickers. His post included a video of a small boat exploding after being hit.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the strike in a brief statement, saying the vessel had departed Venezuela and was operated by a designated narco-terrorist group. In subsequent remarks, Rubio said the administration was prepared to use “the full power of America” to dismantle cartels destabilizing the Caribbean.
The U.S. Navy currently has a large force deployed in the southern Caribbean, with eight warships — including three amphibious assault ships, a nuclear-powered submarine and surveillance aircraft — doing counter-narcotics patrols. Officials say the group, with about 4,500 sailors and Marines, is capable not only of stopping traffickers at sea but also of projecting ground forces ashore if ordered.
Washington has increasingly tied its counter-narcotics push to its broader campaign against the Maduro government. The U.S. has indicted Maduro on drug conspiracy charges, placed a $50 million bounty on his capture, and accused the Venezuelan leader and senior military officers of running the so-called Cartel of the Suns.
Maduro has dismissed the allegations as part of a U.S. regime-change strategy and vowed to mobilize militias to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty.
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