The Defense Department confirmed on Thursday night that two Venezuelan aircraft flew near a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters. The incident, which the department called a ‘highly provocative move,’ comes as the Trump administration ramps up its anti-narco-terrorism efforts.
‘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 wrote in a statement posted to X. ‘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.’
On Friday, Reuters reported that the U.S. 10 F-35 fighter jets to a Puerto Rico airfield as part of its efforts to combat drug cartels.
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Venezuela’s actions followed an unprecedented U.S. Marine strike Tuesday on a cartel-operated vessel. The Trump administration later said 11 members of the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua – a U.S.-designated terrorist organization – were killed in the strike.
Prior to the strike on Tuesday, U.S. efforts to counter cartels and international gang organizations had taken place largely in the form of seizure and apprehension operations. The strike, however, appeared to signal that the Trump administration was shifting towards a tougher new approach.
On Thursday, during a visit to Ecuador, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that two gangs were being reclassified as foreign terrorist organizations. Rubio also slammed the Venezuelan leadership’s involvement in the drug trade. He went on to condemn Nicolás Maduro as an ‘indicted drug trafficker’ and a ‘fugitive of American justice.’
‘Maduro is indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York. That means the Southern District of New York presented the evidence to a grand jury, and a grand jury indicted him. And then a superseding indictment came out that was unsealed about a year and a half ago that specifically detailed Maduro’s actions,’ Rubio said on Thursday. ‘So, number one, let there be no doubt he, Nicolás Maduro, is an indicted drug trafficker in the United States, and he’s a fugitive of American justice.’
Rubio also seemed to indicate that the U.S. and its allies were working together on this tougher approach to cartels and international gang organizations. He said that ‘cooperative governments’ would help the U.S. identify drug traffickers and ‘blow them up, if that’s what it takes.’
Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.