The Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) released a video showing two Venezuelan F-16 fighters flying over the USS Jason Dunham destroyer while it was sailing in international waters in the Caribbean Sea.

The images show one of the pilots filming the U.S. ship from the cockpit, which is part of Washington's maritime security operations in the region.

In the description of the material, the FANB quoted General Domingo Hernández Lárez, assuring: “We have the right to give ourselves the form of government that popular sovereignty decides, as free countries of the world do. We are free, we are a land of peace, we are not drug traffickers, we fight against the scourge of drugs.” The USS Jason Dunham is part of the deployment ordered by the Pentagon, which includes eight warships, three amphibious ships and more than 4,500 troops, to combat drug trafficking in the region.

The U.S. Department of Defense denounced this Thursday that the maneuver by Venezuelan F-16s constitutes an act of harassment. In an official statement, it described it as a"provocative maneuver" to interfere with operations against narcoterrorism.

A Pentagon spokesperson, quoted by US media, was more forceful: he called the action an"unnecessary and dangerous show of force" and warned that the US Navy "will continue to operate freely and safely anywhere in the world where international law permits."