Overview

• Venezuela is in the second day of its three‑day Caribe Soberano 200 exercise on La Orchila, deploying 12 navy ships, 22 aircraft, special forces and drone assets to raise readiness.
• The U.S. Department of Defense said Marine F‑35B fighters have arrived in Puerto Rico to support a Caribbean counternarcotics operation that also involves at least eight warships and a fast‑attack nuclear submarine.
• Human Rights Watch labeled recent U.S. attacks on small boats that left at least 14 dead as unlawful extrajudicial killings, echoing concerns from UN rights experts and other legal analysts about the use of lethal force.
• Caracas filed a complaint to the UN’s FAO alleging the destroyer USS Jason Dunham illegally intercepted and boarded the fishing vessel Carmen Rosa inside Venezuela’s EEZ on September 12, detaining its crew for eight hours.
• President Donald Trump denied discussing plans for a regime change in Venezuela, as Washington frames the mission as drug interdiction and Caracas warns of an aggression targeting its sovereignty.