Maduro's response to Trump's military threats

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The United States Department of Defense said two Venezuelan military aircraft flew near a US Navy ship in international waters on Thursday, 4, days after a US attack on a boat that was allegedly carrying drugs and had set sail from Venezuela .

Following the incident, Reuters reported Friday that the U.S. government ordered the deployment of 10 F-35 jets to the Caribbean. The fighters will go to the air base in Puerto Rico, near the region where U.S. warships are deployed.

It's unclear whether the U.S. government's decision followed the Venezuelan planes' overflight or was already planned. American aircraft will remain at the U.S. base in Puerto Rico and will be used to support operations against drug cartels.

The planes are expected to arrive in the area late next week to join the already strong US military presence in the southern Caribbean. Last month, more than 4,500 US troops were deployed to the region along with warships, under the guise of combating drug trafficking. Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is considered the head of a drug cartel by US justice systems.

The movements come three days after American forces attacked a boat that, according to US President Donald Trump, was transporting drugs from Venezuela bound for the US. Eleven people were killed.

On social media, the Pentagon described the movement of Venezuelan Air Force planes as"highly provocative" and warned Caracas against further escalation."The cartel that controls Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any additional efforts to obstruct, deter, or interfere with U.S. military counter-narcotics and counterterrorism operations," the Pentagon said.

Venezuela has not commented on the incident. Nicolás Maduro has denounced the US action as interference in the country's national sovereignty to bring about a change of government. Since US troops were deployed to the Caribbean, Maduro has called on military troops and the Bolivarian National Militia, a contingent of millions of Venezuelans, to defend the Bolivarian regime.

The Venezuelan dictator also called the American moves “the greatest threat our continent has seen in the last 100 years.”

The US strike on the vessel, details of which could not be independently verified, marks a dramatic escalation by the United States, which for decades has relied on routine law enforcement operations rather than lethal force to seize drugs.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to Latin America, defended the United States' new aggressive approach and said he counts on the support of allied governments in the region who must cooperate in eliminating suspected drug traffickers.

“Now, they will help us find these people and blow them up if necessary,” Rubio said at a joint news conference with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld on Thursday in Quito.

Speaking in Mexico on Wednesday, Rubio said the only thing that will stop drug trafficking cartels is physical elimination, because they have already accepted that losing merchandise is part of the business, and that this does not prevent them from continuing their trafficking.