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Trump plays down possible regime change in Venezuela; US deploys stealth fighter jets
An F-35 jet prepares to launch off the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercises about 100 miles south of Oahu, Hawaii, U.S. July 19, 2024. REUTERS/Marco Garcia/File Photo
(Reuters) – The United States is not talking about regime change in Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Friday, as the United States ordered an additional 10 stealth fighter jets to a growing military buildup in the Caribbean.
“We’re not talking about that, but we are talking about the fact that you had an election which was a very strange election, to put it mildly,” Trump said.
He had been asked by reporters about a claim made by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this week that the United States was “seeking a regime change through military threat.”
Reuters reported earlier on Friday, citing sources, that the Trump administration had ordered the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets to a Puerto Rico airfield to conduct operations against drug cartels, sources say.
The new deployment comes on top of an already bristling U.S. military presence in the southern Caribbean as Trump carries out a campaign pledge to crack down on groups funneling drugs into the United States.
The disclosure about the F-35s came just hours after the Pentagon accused Venezuela of a “highly provocative” flight on Thursday by fighter jets near a U.S. Navy warship.
Trump warned Venezuela that the U.S. military had authorization to shoot down the jets if commanders believed they needed to, saying: “If they do put us in a dangerous position, they’ll be shot down.”
Trump demonstrated his new approach to fighting the drug war with a U.S. military strike on Tuesday that killed 11 people and sank a boat from Venezuela which Trump said was transporting illegal narcotics.
At every turn, the Trump administration has sought to tie Maduro’s government to narco trafficking, allegations Caracas denies.
More specifically, Trump has accused Maduro of running the Tren de Aragua gang, which his administration designated a terrorist organization in February.
Speaking on Friday, Trump compared the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans in overdoses to war dead, as he sought to justify the muscular military activity in the Caribbean.
“Think if you’re in a war and you lose 300,000 … We’re not going to allow it to happen,” he said.
Venezuela’s Communications Ministry did not respond to a request for comment about the F-35s or the allegations that Venezuelan fighter jets flew over a U.S. warship.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity about the latest U.S. deployment, said the 10 fighter jets are being sent to conduct operations against designated narco-terrorist organizations operating in the southern Caribbean. The planes should arrive in the area by late next week, they said.
F-35s are highly advanced stealth fighters and would be effective in combat against Venezuela’s air force, which includes F-16 aircraft.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two Venezuelan F-16s flew over the USS Jason Dunham on Thursday.
The Dunham is one of at least seven U.S. warships deployed to the Caribbean, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines.
U.S. Marines and sailors from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit have also been carrying out amphibious training and flight operations in southern Puerto Rico.
The buildup has put pressure on Maduro, whom U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called “effectively a kingpin of a drug narco state.”
Speaking on Thursday, Hegseth defended Tuesday’s deadly strike in comments to reporters and vowed that such activities would continue, citing the threat that illegal narcotics pose to public health in the United States.
“The poisoning of the American people is over,” Hegseth said.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, condemned what she called Trump’s “lawless” actions in the southern Caribbean.
“Congress has not declared war on Venezuela, or Tren de Aragua, and the mere designation of a group as a terrorist organization does not give any President carte blanche to ignore Congress’s clear Constitutional authority on matters of war and peace,” Omar said in a statement.
U.S. officials have not clearly explained what legal justification was used for Tuesday’s air strike on the boat or what drugs were on board.
Trump said on Tuesday, without providing evidence, that the U.S. military had identified the crew of the vessel as members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
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