Two armed Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over the USS Jason Dunham on Thursday, according to multiple Defense Department officials who described the action as a “show of force.”Â
The Dunham, an Aegis guided-missile destroyer, is among a flotilla of U.S. warships dispatched to the region in recent weeks that the Pentagon says have been deployed to target criminal organizations and narco-terrorism.
CBS News was unable to determine what actions the USS Jason Dunham took, if any, in response to the flyover.
Following the publication of CBS News’ story, the Defense Department confirmed in a statement on X that two Venezuelan 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 statement reads. “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 US military.”
The U.S. Navy vessels were sent to the waters off Venezuela as President Trump vows to crack down on drug cartels — and as tensions rise between Mr. Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of allying with drug cartels to traffic narcotics to the United States, recently doubling a reward it is offering for Maduro’s arrest to $50 million. The Venezuelan government has denied the allegations, and Maduro called the warships a “criminal and bloody threat” earlier this week, deploying drones and warships to patrol the coastline.
On Tuesday, the U.S. military said it struck a boat that it alleged was carrying drugs from Venezuela, and claimed it had killed 11 people on board who it accused of belonging to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, according to Mr. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
