Venezuela on Saturday denounced what the Foreign Office called an illegal and “hostile” seizure of fishing vessels, and USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) occupying the relentless, boarding and vessels in Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone, intercepting, boarding and occupying the vessels, intercepting, boarding and exploring eight hours of fishing fishermen in Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone.
“The warship deployed 18 armed agents that occupied the small, harmless boats for eight hours,” the ministry called “a direct provocation by excessive illegal use of military means.”
The boarding follows a US military strike in the Caribbean where Washington killed 11 people after the target said it was transporting drugs.
Caracas has completely rejected the account. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said investigators discovered that none of the dead were members of the Tren de Aragua gang and condemned the strike as “a murder using deadly force.”
The allegations that the people killed were members of the gang are contested, calling for more evidence and legal justification in the US Congress.
President Nicholas Maduro framed the incident as part of a broader pattern of pressure from Washington, ordering troops, police and militia deployed at 284 “battlefront” locations. Caracas says that US actions amount to a campaign of coercion and pressure to change the regime.
The Trump administration has strengthened its stance in the southern Caribbean – sending warships and deploying F-35 jets to Puerto Rico, doubling the reward for information that leads to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million.