US deploys F-35s to Caribbean as tensions with Venezuela escalate
The U.S. is deploying 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico for counter-narcotics missions, adding to a growing American military buildup in the Caribbean that has already triggered confrontations with Venezuela. The jets are expected to arrive next week as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to target drug cartels blamed for shipping fentanyl and other narcotics into the U.S.
The move comes amid a series of confrontations between the two countries in the Caribbean this week. Two Venezuelan F-16s flew over the USS Jason Dunham, one of several U.S. warships assigned to waters off Venezuela, on Thursday.
U.S. officials described the incident as “highly provocative” and a show of force, according to The War Zone.
What prompted the move?
U.S. forces struck a vessel Tuesday that Trump linked to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang. He said the operation killed 11 suspected traffickers. Caracas denies the U.S. allegations tying Maduro to narco-trafficking and to Tren de Aragua, which the U.S. designated a terrorist organization in February.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the strike, calling Maduro “effectively a kingpin of a drug narco state.” He told reporters, “The poisoning of the American people is over.”
On Thursday at Fort Benning, Hegseth compared cartel members to al-Qaeda, adding, “We smoked a drug boat and there are 11 narcoterrorists at the bottom of the ocean.”
U.S. officials have not publicly detailed the legal basis for the strike or identified the drugs on board, according to Reuters.
What forces are already in the region?
The Pentagon sent a significant force to the Caribbean in recent weeks. Three Aegis destroyers were deployed in late August: the USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham and USS Sampson.
The amphibious warships USS Iwo Jima, USS San Antonio, and USS Fort Lauderdale are operating near southern Puerto Rico with more than 4,500 sailors and Marines, where they have conducted amphibious landing and flight training. Other U.S. vessels tied to the mission include the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie, which recently transited the Panama Canal.
How has Venezuela responded?
At a rare news conference earlier this week, Maduro accused the U.S. of seeking regime change “through military threat.” Venezuela’s communications ministry has released no official statement regarding the U.S. allegations or the F-35 deployment.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., questioned whether the strikes were legal, saying the actions were “lawless,” noting that labeling a group as a terrorist organization does not grant presidents unilateral war powers.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
