Venezuela Denounces Illegal U.S. Intelligence Operations Against Its Territory

Defense Minister Warns of Escalating Provocations in the Caribbean

Venezuelan Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino López denounced last night what he described as an alarming increase in U.S. aerial intelligence operations in the Caribbean, calling them violations of international norms and deliberate provocations against the country’s sovereignty.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) warned that these flights are conducted “without notifying their flight plan” and cross “without authorization the Caracas flight information region,” which he said could lead to “air accidents up north in our Caribbean.”

Increase in U.S. Reconnaissance Flights

Providing an update on operations under “Plan Independencia 200,” Padrino López explained: “This has always happened, except that now they have shifted from a daytime pattern to operating at night and at dawn, and in August tripled intelligence and reconnaissance operations against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela—and in September, every single day.”

According to the minister, U.S. aircraft identified include the RC-135, designed to collect and process real-time information within a 200-mile range with electronic intelligence systems reaching “into Venezuelan internal territory”; the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, an aerial refueling aircraft; and the E-3 Sentry, equipped with airborne warning and control systems.

Padrino López stressed that Venezuela “conducts its internal intelligence processes and is prepared for each one of these U.S. military flights,” adding that the government is fully aware of Washington’s actions and “the deployment that the United States has in the Caribbean Sea with the clear intention of sowing war.”

He accused the Trump administration of seeking to justify a “plan of military threat and intervention” with the goal of displacing President Nicolás Maduro from power.

“We know what they are doing, we know the deployment they have in the Caribbean Sea. With the full intention of sowing a war in the Caribbean, a war that Venezuelans do not want, that the Caribbean peoples do not want, that the Central American peoples do not want,” he said.

Incident at Sea: U.S. Destroyer and Venezuelan Fishing Boat

The defense minister also denounced what he called an act of aggression last Friday by the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) against the Venezuelan fishing vessel Carmen Rosa, crewed by nine tuna fishermen.

The boat was operating 48 nautical miles northeast of La Blanquilla Island, within Venezuela’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

Expressing solidarity with the fishermen, Padrino López pledged protection: “Do not fall into fear. The fishermen of Venezuela have the protection of the Bolivarian government, of the president of the republic, and we will accompany our fishermen so that they can carry out their productive fishing activity, duly authorized, in our seas and jurisdictional waters—and we will protect them.”

Warning to Neighboring Governments

During the day, Padrino López also shared a video on his Telegram channel issuing a warning to the governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, accusing them of aligning with U.S. aggression plans against Venezuela.

He said both governments received a communiqué drafted in Washington and “have lent themselves to the game.” He warned: “If we are attacked from your territory, you will also receive a response—and that is in legitimate defense.”

Venezuela Cites Threat to Regional Peace

In recent weeks, Venezuela has repeatedly denounced the expanding U.S. military presence in Caribbean waters as a serious threat to regional peace and a blatant violation of the Zone of Peace status declared by CELAC in 2014.