Overview

• Defense chief Vladimir Padrino launched three days of maneuvers at La Orchila with roughly 2,500 personnel, 12 navy ships, 22 aircraft and militia boats, featuring amphibious landings, air-defense systems, electronic warfare and armed drones.
• Venezuela filed a formal protest to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization alleging the U.S. destroyer USS Jason Dunham illegally boarded the tuna vessel Carmen Rosa inside Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone and held its crew for eight hours.
• The United States has sustained a stepped-up presence of at least eight warships, a nuclear-propelled attack submarine and more than 4,500 personnel, and President Donald Trump has claimed strikes that destroyed several fast boats he described as drug traffickers, with multiple deaths reported.
• The Venezuelan Air Force publicized video of Su-30MK2 fighters carrying Russian-made Kh-31 anti-ship missiles, though CNN noted some footage circulated previously and the exact filming dates are unclear.
• Caracas highlighted diplomatic backing from China and support voiced by Cuba at the U.N., as officials escalated rhetoric, with Maduro warning of a shift to armed resistance if attacked and Diosdado Cabello alleging a DEA-linked 'false positive' while announcing a seizure of about 3.7 metric tons of cocaine.