Venezuela detected five U.S. fighter jets flying 46 miles (75 kilometers) from its Caribbean coastline on Thursday, prompting Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino to condemn the operation as military harassment that threatens national security.

Padrino claimed to have identified the aircraft as F-35 fighter jets traveling at 400 knots and an altitude of 35,000 feet. Venezuelan air defense systems allegedly detected the planes in the Maiquetía flight information region, an area that extends northward over the Caribbean Sea and includes Venezuela’s airspace plus international airspace beyond its borders.

“They are combat aircraft. Combat aircraft that U.S. imperialism has dared to approach the Venezuelan coast,” Padrino said in comments broadcast on state television. “The presence of these planes flying close to our Caribbean Sea is a vulgarity, a provocation, a threat to the security of the nation.”

🇻🇪 🇺🇸 Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced that air defense systems detected five F-35 Lightning II aircraft operating within the Maiquetía Flight Information Region (FIR) off Venezuela’s coast.

“Our Integrated Air Defense System has detected more than… pic.twitter.com/gnZjB8qX1V

— Vanguard Intel Group 🛡 (@vanguardintel) October 2, 2025

The distance cited by Venezuelan authorities places the aircraft outside Venezuela’s territorial airspace, which extends approximately 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) from the coast under international law. However, Venezuela and its foreign and defense ministries issued a joint statement accusing the U.S. of violating international law and endangering civil aviation in the Caribbean.

Air traffic controllers at Maiquetía International Airport, which serves Caracas, confirmed the detection. The crew of an international airliner in the area also reported seeing the U.S. aircraft to Maiquetía controllers, according to Venezuelan authorities.

President Donald Trump dispatched 10 F-35 aircraft to Puerto Rico in mid-September, with at least five arriving by that time according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The deployment represents the largest U.S. military presence in Latin America in more than three decades.

Trump also sent eight warships and a nuclear submarine to the Caribbean as part of what the U.S. describes as operations to combat drug trafficking. U.S. forces have attacked several vessels near Venezuela in recent weeks, resulting in at least 14 deaths. U.S. officials allege the boats were involved in drug trafficking, claims Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has rejected.

Earlier this morning, on President Trump’s orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the… pic.twitter.com/QpNPljFcGn

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 3, 2025

U.S. media reported Thursday that Trump notified Congress the United States is engaged in “non-international armed conflict” against drug cartels. The administration has redesignated Latin American cartels as “narco-terrorists” who threaten U.S. stability through cross-border drug trafficking.

“We had never seen this deployment of aircraft, which we know are stationed in Puerto Rico, of the F-35 class,” Padrino said. “We are watching you. And I want you to know that this does not intimidate us.”

The U.S. Marine Corps has been conducting amphibious landing training exercises in Puerto Rico as part of a broader military buildup that the Washington Examiner reported exceeds standard counter-narcotics operations. 

Open-source researcher MT Anderson identified satellite imagery showing the U.S. MV Ocean Trader southwest of St. Kitts, a specialized vessel operated by U.S. Special Operations Command. The Washington Examiner reported the assembled forces possess resources sufficient to seize and hold strategic sites including ports and airfields inside Venezuela.