Overview
- Caracas says the USS Jason Dunham intercepted a Venezuelan tuna vessel with nine fishermen and kept 18 armed personnel aboard for eight hours inside Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone.
- Venezuela locates the encounter 48 nautical miles northeast of La Blanquilla Island and calls the boarding illegal and a direct provocation.
- A U.S. official says a Coast Guard detachment aboard the destroyer searched the craft after a tip, found no contraband, and contends the vessel was in international waters with a shorter boarding.
- The incident follows a Sept. 2 U.S. strike that sank a boat and killed 11 people the White House labeled Tren de Aragua members, a claim Venezuela rejects and for which public evidence has not been presented.
- President Nicolás Maduro has ordered troop, police and militia deployments and urged militia training as the U.S. sustains expanded naval and air operations in the southern Caribbean, including warships and F-35s in the region.