BOGOTA, Colombia
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said Thursday that five fighter jets were detected near the country’s coast, which he described as a “threat” and “provocation” by the United States.
“They are fighter jets. Imperialism has dared to approach the Venezuelan coast,” Padrino said from an air base in a state television broadcast, adding that the presence of the planes was reported by an international airline to a control tower.
“The presence of these planes flying near our nearby Caribbean Sea is rude, a provocation, (and) a threat to the security of the nation,” he stated.
Padrino assured that if the US “attacked” the South American nation, the country would launch a “national mobilization.”
“I denounce before the world the military harassment, the military threat of the United States Government against the people of Venezuela (…); I denounce before the world this situation, which, I repeat, is nothing more than a provocation, but also a threat to our national security,” Padrino declared.
This incident is the latest development in escalating tensions between the two countries. The US deployed 10 F-35 aircraft to Puerto Rico nearly a month ago as part of a military buildup that also includes eight warships. President Nicolas Maduro has previously called this mobilization a “siege” and a “threat.”
In recent weeks, four suspected drug traffickers’ boats have already been destroyed by US strikes. Venezuela has said it believes that President Donald Trump is using drug trafficking as a false pretext to overthrow Maduro and seize the country’s vast oil reserves.
In response to what he views as a military threat, Maduro has mobilized militias, warships, helicopters, and fighter aircraft with 2,500 troops.
The president has also said he is preparing a decree to declare a “state of external unrest,” an exceptional measure that would expand his powers.