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US Military Flew Bombers to Venezuela 10/24 06:14
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. military flew a pair of supersonic, heavy
bombers up to the coast of Venezuela on Thursday, a little over a week after
another group of American bombers made a similar journey as part of a training
exercise to simulate an attack.
The U.S. military has built up an unusually large force in the Caribbean Sea
and the waters off of Venezuela, raising speculation that President Donald
Trump could try to topple Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro. Maduro faces
charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S.
Adding to the speculation, the U.S. military since early September has been
carrying out lethal strikes on vessels in the waters off Venezuela that Trump
says are trafficking drugs.
According to flight tracking data, a pair of B-1 Lancer bombers took off
from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas on Thursday and flew through the Caribbean
and up to the coast of Venezuela. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, confirmed that a training
flight of B-1s took place in the Caribbean.
The B-1 bomber can carry more bombs than any other plane in the U.S.
inventory.
A similar flight of slower B-52 Stratofortress bombers was conducted in the
region last week. The bombers were joined by Marine Corps F-35B stealth fighter
jets -- a squadron is currently based in Puerto Rico -- for what the Pentagon
called a "bomber attack demo" in photos online.
When Trump was asked about Thursday's B-1 flight and if it was meant to ramp
up military pressure on Venezuela, he said, "it's false, but we're not happy
with Venezuela for a lot of reasons. Drugs being one of them."
The U.S. force in the Caribbean includes eight warships, P-8 maritime patrol
aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones and an F-35 fighter squadron. A submarine has also
been confirmed to be operating in the waters off South America.
Trump on Wednesday said he has the "legal authority" to carry out the
strikes on the alleged drug-carrying boats and suggested similar strikes could
be done on land.
"We will hit them very hard when they come in by land," Trump told reporters
in the Oval Office. "We're totally prepared to do that. And we'll probably go
back to Congress and explain exactly what we're doing when we come to the land."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the military had
conducted its ninth strike, killing three people in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
It followed a strike Tuesday night, also in the eastern Pacific, that killed
two people and brought the overall death toll from the strikes to at least 37.
The latest pair of strikes expanded the Trump administration's campaign
against drug trafficking in South America from the waters of the Caribbean to
the eastern Pacific.
Hegseth has drawn a direct comparison between the war on terrorism that the
U.S. declared after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Trump administration's
crackdown.
"Our message to these foreign terrorist organizations is we will treat you
like we have treated al-Qaeda," Hegseth told reporters on Thursday at the White
House.
"We will find you, we will map your networks, we will hunt you down, and we
will kill you," he added.
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