The U.S. Air Force flew two supersonic bombers off the coast of Venezuela in a training flight on Thursday.
Two B-1 Lancer bombers departed from Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, on Thursday, traveling to the coastline of Venezuela, the Wall Street Journal reported. It was the second such training operation involving U.S. bombers near the South American country this month.
The Air Force exercise comes as tensions between the two countries have increased in recent months, stemming from the Trump administration’s tactics against suspected Venezuelan narco-terrorists operating in the Caribbean Sea.
President Donald Trump was asked on Thursday about the bombers conducting the exercise by Venezuela and if it was to be an escalation or deterrence tactic. However, the president denied that the training operation had happened.
“It’s false,” Trump responded. “But we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons. Drugs being one of them.”
However, a U.S. official anonymously confirmed the supposed training exercise to ABC News.
The presence of the bombers off the Venezuela coast comes as tensions between the two countries have increased in recent months, stemming from the Trump administration’s tactics against suspected Venezuelan narco-terrorists operating in the Caribbean Sea. A week ago, two B-52 bombers and F-35B fighter jets conducted an “attack demonstration” near the South American country, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The bombers’ presence is the latest development in souring relations between the two countries after Trump authorized the military to take a more aggressive approach against drug traffickers coming from Venezuela. Since September, there have been seven military strikes conducted on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea originating from the South American country. Over 30 suspected narco-terrorists have reportedly been killed in the strikes.
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During a roundtable discussion at the White House on Thursday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke about the necessity of the attacks and that eliminating the drug traffickers at sea was a national security matter, the Washington Examiner previously reported. He reiterated Trump’s messaging that such preventive measures save thousands of U.S. lives, and issued a warning to those in the future trying to smuggle drugs into the country.
“They intimidate, they terrorize, they extort, they poison the American people,” Hegseth said. “The president’s right — every boat we strike is 25,000 Americans whose lives are saved because of the drugs that were headed in our direction,” Hegseth said Thursday. “So our message to these foreign terrorist organizations is we will treat you like we have treated al Qaeda. We will find you. We will map your networks. We will hunt you down, and we will kill you.”
