The Venezuelan government accused the U.S. Navy of illegally boarding a fishing vessel operating in the waters of its exclusive economic zone, calling the action a “direct provocation.”
Venezuela’s foreign ministry said that the incident happened on Friday, with a team of military personnel from a Navy ship — identified as the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer the USS Jason Dunham — stopping a tuna fishing boat and searching it for several hours before releasing the crew.
“The warship deployed 18 armed agents who boarded and occupied the small, harmless boat for eight hours,” the statement said.
The USS Jason Dunham is one of several warships that the U.S. Navy has moved into the southern Caribbean Sea since the start of August. The U.S. Navy has said it is engaging in anti-drug trafficking operations in the region. The incident on Friday is the first announced case of personnel from those warships interdicting a boat over drugs and comes a week after the military destroyed a Venezuelan boat in an airstrike over alleged drug smuggling.
Task & Purpose reached out to the Navy for additional information, who directed questions to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. That office directed questions to the White House. ABC News cited an unnamed U.S. official that confirmed the search took place, but in international waters, and that no drugs were found.
Top Stories This Week
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Venezuela in recent weeks. Over the course of August the U.S. moved several warships, including destroyers, a cruiser and an amphibious ready group carrying a Marine Expeditionary Unit into the southern Caribbean, as part of the military’s counter-drug trafficking operations. The American government has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of heading the Tren de Aragua gang, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist group. 10 F-35 fighter jets have also been moved to the region, to be based out of Puerto Rico.
The U.S. Coast Guard, often with the involvement of the Navy, regularly interdicts vessels suspected of carrying drugs, searching them and seizing narcotics if found.
Two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets buzzed the USS Jason Dunham on Sept. 4, two days after a U.S. airstrike killed 11 people on a boat off of Venezuela. The Trump administration alleges that boat was carrying drugs and that all on board were members of Tren de Aragua, although Venezuela disputes that.
