Caracas Slams US ‘Military Harassment’ After F-35 Jets Spotted Near Coast

Venezuela says it’s facing fresh military pressure from Washington after detecting at least five US F-35 fighter jets close to its borders. Officials in Caracas called it an “illegal incursion” and accused the United States of threatening national security.

Defence Minister General Vladimir Padrino didn’t mince words during remarks at an airbase on Thursday:

“We’re watching them, I want you to know. And I want you to know that this doesn’t intimidate us. It doesn’t intimidate the people of Venezuela.”

He added:

“The presence of these planes flying close to our Caribbean Sea is a vulgarity, a provocation, a threat to the security of the nation. I denounce before the world the military harassment, the military threat by the US government against the people of Venezuela, who want peace, work and happiness.”

Authorities said the jets were tracked by air defences, Maiquetia international airport systems, and even a commercial flight, with the planes spotted just 75km (46 miles) from Venezuelan shores. Technically, that’s still outside the country’s airspace, which extends 22km off the coast, but Caracas insists the flyby violates international norms and endangers civilian aircraft.

In a joint statement, the defence and foreign ministries blasted Washington’s posture: Venezuela “urges US Secretary of War Peter Hegseth to immediately cease his reckless, thrill-seeking and warmongering posture, which is disturbing the peace of the Caribbean.”

The Pentagon has yet to respond.

Meanwhile, US media reports say President Donald Trump has formally notified Congress that America is now in a “non-international armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels — reclassifying cartel members as “unlawful combatants.” It follows weeks of escalating tension after Trump deployed warships, a nuclear submarine, and fighter jets to the Caribbean, framing the move as an anti-narcotics operation.

Caracas, however, sees something else: a covert push for regime change. Already, US airstrikes on small boats off Venezuela’s coast, alleged by Washington to be carrying drugs, have left at least 14 people dead. Independent observers, along with Venezuelan officials, call those killings extrajudicial.

With eight warships, F-35 fighters, and a nuclear sub already in the region, the standoff is looking less like a policing mission and more like a regional power play.