Venezuela on Thursday said it had detected five US fighter jets flying near its Caribbean coast. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino described the incident as a “provocation” by the United States that posed a threat to national security.
“They are combat aircraft. Combat aircraft that US imperialism has dared to approach the Venezuelan coast,” Padrino said in comments broadcast on state TV.
Later on Thursday, the Venezuelan government issued a statement saying the aircraft had been detected 75 kilometers (about 46 miles) from its coastline, miles away from standard territorial waters which are typically 12 nautical miles from the coast.
Padrino described the planes as US F-35 fighter jets flying at a speed of 400 knots and an altitude of 35,000 feet. He said they were detected by air defense systems in the Maiquetía flight information region, a large expanse of sky that extends northward over the Caribbean Sea encompassing the entire airspace of Venezuela and beyond into international airspace.
Padrino said the crew of an international airliner flying in the area also reported to Maiquetía air traffic controllers that it had seen the US aircraft.
CNN has reached out to the US Department of Defense for comment and to the Venezuelan Defense Ministry for the exact positions of the flights.
The news comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Caracas following the deployment of several US warships in the Caribbean, which the US insists is a mission to combat drug trafficking, but Venezuela believes is aimed at regime change.
Recent US strikes have targeted at least four boats, killing more than a dozen suspected drug traffickers, though the US has not provided concrete evidence that those targeted were criminals.
“We had never seen this deployment of aircraft, which we know are stationed in Puerto Rico, of the F-35 class,” Padrino said.
At least five F-35 fighter jets arrived in Puerto Rico in mid-September, according to the US Department of Defense. Two White House officials previously told CNN that the US would send 10 of those planes to the island, where a unit of US Marines has been conducting training exercises for amphibious landings.
“We are watching you,” Padrino warned, “And I want you to know that this does not intimidate us.”
CNN’s Jonny Hallam contributed.
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