Venezuela again flew fighter jets near a U.S. warship in international waters, the Department of War said Friday. The incident occurred “sometime overnight Thursday” near South America, CBS reported. Earlier Thursday, two Venezuelan fighter jets had flown over the same ship, the USS Jason Dunham.
Officials from the Department of War told CBS that U.S.–Venezuelan maneuvers were turning into a “game of chicken.” The Trump administration has dispatched surveillance planes, an attack submarine, a flotilla of warships, and more than 6,000 sailors and marines to the Caribbean in a show of force against the Venezuelan government, which it accuses of “narco-terrorism.” The U.S. is sending 10 F-35 fighter jets to join the operations.
On Tuesday, a U.S. strike destroyed a civilian vessel that the White House said was smuggling drugs and heading for America. Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially said the boat was taking drugs to “Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean,” and analysts have questioned the claim that the boat carried drugs. The strike killed all 11 people on board, the White House said.
President Donald Trump on Friday told Secretary of War Pete Hegseth that “you or your captains can make the decision as to what they want to do” if Venezuelan military aircraft flew over U.S. Navy ships again.
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