Washington– The US military flew a pair of supersonic heavy bombers up the coast of Venezuela on Thursday, just over a week after another group of US bombers made a similar flight as part of a training exercise simulating an attack.
The US Army has built an unusually large force Power in the Caribbean and waters off Venezuela, raising speculation that President Donald Trump Could try to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. He confronts Maduro Drug-related terrorism charges in the United States
Adding to this speculation is that since early September, the US military has carried out deadly strikes on ships in the waters off Venezuela that Trump says are trafficking drugs.
According to flight tracking data, two B-1 Lancer bombers took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas on Thursday and flew across the Caribbean to the coast of Venezuela. A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, confirmed that a training flight for B-1 aircraft took place in the Caribbean.
The B-1 bomber could carry more bombs than any other aircraft in the US inventory.
A similar flight of slower B-52 Stratofortress bombers was conducted in the area last week. The bombers were joined by Marine Corps F-35B fighter jets — a squadron currently based in Puerto Rico — in what the Pentagon described as an “air assault.” ‘Suicide attack shown’ in photos online.
When Trump was asked about the B-1 bomber flight on Thursday and whether it was intended to intensify military pressure on Venezuela, he said: “That’s not true, but we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons. Drugs are one of them.”
The US force in the Caribbean includes eight warships, P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones, and an F-35 fighter squadron. It has also been confirmed that there is a submarine operating in the waters off South America.
Trump said on Wednesday that he had the “legal authority” to carry out strikes on alleged drug boats, and suggested that similar strikes could be carried out on land.
“We’re going to hit them hard when they come in,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re fully prepared to do that. And maybe we’ll go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we get to the ground.”
Defense Minister Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the army had conducted the operation ninth plague, Three people were killed in the eastern Pacific. This followed a raid on Tuesday night, also in the eastern Pacific, that killed two people and brought the total death toll from the strikes to at least 37 people.
The latest strikes have expanded the reach of the Trump administration Campaign to combat drug trafficking in South America From the waters of the Caribbean Sea to the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Hegseth has drawn A A direct comparison between the war on terror Announced by the United States after the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the crackdown launched by the Trump administration.
“Our message to these foreign terrorist organizations is that we will treat you the way we treated Al Qaeda,” Hegseth told reporters Thursday at the White House.
He added: “We will find you, map your networks, hunt you down, and kill you.”