US President Donald Trump warned this Friday against further incursions by Venezuelan aircraft against US ships deployed in international waters near Venezuelan territorial waters."If they put us in a dangerous position, they will be shot down," he said, in remarks from the Oval Office, in which he revealed that commanders are authorized to open fire if they deem it necessary.
Trump spoke in these terms after the Pentagon reported that Venezuelan military aircraft had aggressively flown over a US vessel in a"highly provocative move." The alleged Venezuelan maneuver came one day after the US president announced the attack in international waters against a Venezuelan boat that he claimed was transporting drugs. The 11 people on board, whom Trump and his administration accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, died when the vessel exploded.
"If they fly in a dangerous position, I will tell [the commanders on board] that they can make whatever decision they see fit," the Republican insisted in a question-and-answer session with the press during an executive order signing ceremony.
Trump also denied that he intends to provoke regime change in Venezuela, as the Caribbean country's president, Nicolás Maduro, had claimed earlier this week."We're not talking about that. We're talking about the fact that they had an election that was very strange, to put it mildly," the Republican said.
According to the Pentagon's X social media account, two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over one of the ships in the US fleet deployed in the Caribbean since mid-August, in a"show of force" under the guise of fighting drug trafficking. The maneuver, according to the Department of Defense, was intended to interfere with its counter-drug operations.
The ship allegedly harassed by Venezuelan aircraft is the USS Jason Dunham, one of three Aegis guided-missile destroyers in the flotilla.
Following the incident, the Pentagon deployed ten F-35 fighter jets to an airfield in Puerto Rico, also to conduct counter-drug operations. Following the attack on the boat, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had warned that such operations would be repeated, in statements that appear to set the stage for a sustained military campaign against drugs in Latin America.
Since his return to the White House, Trump has exponentially increased the pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, increasingly focused on linking the Chavista leader to drug trafficking. Last month, the US government increased the reward it is offering to $50 million for information leading to the capture of Maduro, whom it accuses of leading the Cartel of the Suns.
Trump's deputy chief of staff and political advisor, Stephen Miller, reiterated these accusations on Friday."What's running Venezuela is not a government: it's a drug cartel. A drug trafficking organization," he told reporters outside the West Wing of the White House.
