Puerto Rico Governor Jennifer Gonzalez has declared herself “proud” that the island can support the latest military moves by the United States government to combat cartels in Latin America, in response to the apparent deployment of ten F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rican soil.

González has shared on his social networks information from the Fox News network about this deployment to confirm his approval: “We are proud to support our nation's anti-drug operations in the Caribbean”.

“For too long, cartels and the Venezuelan narco-terrorist regime have flooded our communities with dangerous drugs, fueled violent crime on our streets, and jeopardized the public safety of American citizens in Puerto Rico and throughout the United States,” he said.

The deployment of the fighter jets, on which the Department of Defense has declined to comment, follows the deployment of several military vessels in Caribbean waters and is part of an escalation of tensions that led U.S. forces this week to bomb a suspected drug boat in an unprecedented attack that left eleven dead.

The United States has ordered 10 F-35 fighter jets to deploy to an airfield in Puerto Rico to carry out operations against drug cartels, two people familiar with the matter said, in a move likely to further escalate tensions in the region. The advanced fighter jets will add to an already sizable U.S. military presence in the southern Caribbean as President Donald Trump makes good on a campaign promise to crack down on groups he blames for smuggling drugs into the United States.

Friday's development comes three days after U.S. forces attacked a ship that Trump said was carrying “massive amounts of drugs” from Venezuela, killing 11 people.

The attack appeared to set the stage for a sustained military campaign in Latin America.

During a press conference in the Oval Office, Trump addressed the possibility of further overflights near U.S. vessels:"They're going to get into trouble. We'll let them know. We heard about what happened, but it didn't really end that way, not the way they described it."

The president added that if Venezuelan planes fly in a dangerous position, the decision to act rests with the military command:"I would say that you... you or your captains can make the decision about what you want to do," he told General Dan Caine, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Asked about the distance at which the Venezuelan planes approached, the president responded that he did not wish to share that information, but issued a categorical warning:"If they put us in a dangerous position, they will be shot down."

U.S. authorities have framed this incident within the context of an anti-drug operation that, in recent weeks, has involved the deployment of one of the largest naval contingents in decades to the Caribbean Sea, near the coast of Venezuela. The Trump administration maintains that the operation is in response to the increase in drug trafficking from Venezuelan territory to North America.

“Billions of dollars worth of drugs are coming into our country from Venezuela, Venezuela’s prisons have been opened to our country, their worst prisoners are living happily in the United States, we got many of them out,”Trump said.

The president stressed the need for a"hard line" policy to curb both drug trafficking and illegal immigration, citing cases of criminal gangs such as the Aragua Train and noting that the new War Department will play a key role in preventing the entry of drugs and human trafficking.