Military tensions between the United States and Venezuela are reaching a peak. The Venezuelan government claimed that U.S. troops illegally boarded a Venezuelan tuna-fishing boat in the Caribbean and held it for eight hours.
According to AFP and Reuters, Venezuela Minister of Foreign Affairs Iván Gil said in a statement on the 13th (local time) that the U.S. Navy destroyer "Jason Dunham" seized a fishing vessel that had been operating inside the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) the previous day. Minister Gil said, "Eighteen armed soldiers disembarked from a U.S. warship and took over a small and harmless fishing boat," and "blocked communications for eight hours and interfered with normal fishing activities."
The Venezuelan government denounced the incident as an "hostile and illegal seizure" and strongly protested. Minister Gil said, "This incident is a direct provocation employing excessive military force," and criticized the United States for "trying to create a pretext to start a war." He then urged the United States to "immediately stop actions that threaten security and peace in the Caribbean."
Recently, the Donald Trump U.S. administration has been ratcheting up military pressure on Venezuela under the pretext of a Caribbean anti-narcotics sweep. It deployed eight missile destroyers and even a nuclear-powered submarine to blockade waters near Venezuela, and forward-deployed 10 F-35 stealth fighters to an air base in Puerto Rico. It also labeled Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro the "head of a drug cartel" and doubled the bounty on him to $50 million (about 69 billion won).
Tensions between the two countries exploded on the 2nd when U.S. forces sank a Venezuelan vessel in the Caribbean, killing 11 people. The United States claimed the vessel was a drug-running boat belonging to the Venezuela-based drug cartel "Tren de Aragua (TdA)." But Venezuela Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello told Newsweek, "None of the dead were TdA members or drug traffickers," and countered that it was "an obvious act of killing committed by U.S. forces."
The Maduro administration raised its alert level to the highest, saying the United States' successive military actions are an attempt at "regime change" under the pretext of a drug crackdown. Venezuela reinforced its defenses by deploying military personnel, police, and militia to coastal areas. Alex Fultas, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Newsweek, "The United States has assembled a considerable naval fleet in the Caribbean, but it is not a large-scale ground invasion force capable of toppling the Maduro administration," adding, "For now, it appears to be a phase of testing the possibility of airstrikes or missile launches."