WASHINGTON — Two Venezuelan navy plane flew close to a US Navy vessel in worldwide waters on Thursday, in a transfer the US Division of Protection known as “extremely provocative.”
“Right now, two Maduro regime navy plane flew close to a US Navy vessel in worldwide waters. This extremely provocative transfer was designed to intrude with our counter narco-terror operations,” the Protection Division stated in an announcement on X.
“The cartel operating Venezuela is strongly suggested to not pursue any additional effort to impede, deter or intrude with counter-narcotics and counter-terror operations carried out by the US navy,” the assertion continued.
CNN has reached out to the Protection Division and the White Home for added remark.
The motion comes amid rising rigidity between Venezuela and america.
In current weeks, the US navy has order the deployment of greater than 4,000 Marines and sailors to the waters round Latin America and the Caribbean as a part of a ramped-up effort to fight drug cartels — lots of which have been designated by the Trump administration as international terrorist organizations.
The elevated navy presence has drawn the ire of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has additionally introduced the deployment of troops and militias, in addition to a name for Venezuelans to hitch the Bolivarian Militia. The Trump administration has elevated the bounty for the Venezuelan president to $50 million for drug trafficking.
In a major escalation, the US on Tuesday carried out a deadly navy strike in opposition to a suspected drug vessel linked to the Tren de Aragua gang, President Donald Trump introduced earlier this week.
Trump stated 11 individuals had been killed within the strike in “worldwide waters.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated the strike befell within the Southern Caribbean and that the focused boat had departed from Venezuela. — CNN
