September 08, 2025
By JamRadio News Caribbean Desk
In a high-stakes military flashpoint, two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew dangerously close to the USS Jason Dunham on 4 September, prompting a stern warning from the Pentagon and escalating tensions in the southern Caribbean. The U.S. Navy destroyer, part of a growing American flotilla in the region, was conducting counter–narco-terror operations in international waters when the jets performed what defense officials called a “highly provocative” flyover.
Venezuelan F-16's fly over USS Jason Dunham 05/09/2025
The incident marks a dramatic shift in posture between Washington and Caracas, coming just two days after a U.S. missile strike sank a suspected Venezuelan drug boat, killing 11 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua cartel. President Donald Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of personally overseeing the cartel’s operations, calling the regime “a narco-terrorist state” and offering a $50 million reward for Maduro’s arrest.
U.S. Navy carry out large scale amphibious landing training exercise in southern Puerto Rico 3rd September 2025
As tensions mount, the U.S. military has launched large-scale amphibious exercises in southern Puerto Rico, involving over 4,500 Marines and sailors from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. The drills include beach landings, aerial support missions, and coordination with the Puerto Rico National Guard, aimed at boosting readiness and projecting force across the Caribbean theater. Ten F-35 stealth fighters have also been deployed to the island, adding air superiority to the growing U.S. presence.
“The President is going to be on offense against drug cartels.”
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 2, 2025
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says cartels are in for a rude awakening after the U.S. military destroyed a drug-laden boat from Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/s3kY4RWI8D
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has emerged as the administration’s most vocal hawk, defending the strike and warning that “what will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.” During a press tour in Mexico and Ecuador, Rubio emphasized that designated narco-terrorist groups like Tren de Aragua pose an “immediate threat to the United States” and justified the use of military force as a necessary deterrent.
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Venezuela has responded with fury, accusing the U.S. of extrajudicial killings and regime-change ambitions. Maduro has mobilized troops and militias along the Colombian frontier, declaring “maximum readiness” and warning that any attack would trigger “armed struggle in defense of the national territory.”
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