U.S. officials have reportedly ordered 10 F-35 fighter jets be deployed to Puerto Rico amid President Donald Trump’s fight against drug cartels.
On Friday, Reuters cited sources who shared information about fighter jets’ reported deployment to an airfield in Puerto Rico.
“The disclosure about the F-35s came just hours after the Pentagon accused Venezuela of a ‘highly provocative’ flight on Thursday by fighter jets over a U.S. Navy warship,” the article continued.
“The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity about the latest U.S. deployment, said the 10 fighter jets are being sent to conduct operations against designated narco-terrorist organizations operating in the southern Caribbean. The planes should arrive in the area by late next week, they said,” the report stated.
Trump ordered U.S. military forces on Tuesday to launch a precision strike on a drug-laden vessel in international waters, Breitbart News reported.
The outlet said 11 Tren de Aragua narco-terrorists were killed as a result as they were en route to the United States.
The president wrote in a post on Truth Social:
Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility. TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere.
The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States. The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE! Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!!
The Reuters article said Trump has accused Maduro of leading the violent Tren de Aragua group.
In August, reports said U.S. officials deployed three Aegis guided-missile destroyers near Venezuelan waters as part of Trump’s efforts to combat threats from drug cartels, per Breitbart News.
The outlet later reported that “Socialist dictator of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro ordered measures in recent days to prepare the country for a purported ‘invasion’ by the United States in response to President Donald Trump’s increasing efforts targeting Latin American drug cartels in the region.”
Maduro recently threatened Venezuela will “enter a period of armed struggle” if the United States “invades,” per Breitbart News.
The article noted that “The Venezuelan dictator and numerous members of his authoritarian regime have repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the United States’ ongoing actions in the Caribbean are part of a plan to ‘invade’ Venezuela and oust him from power. He has thus ordered Venezuela to be under a ‘maximum preparation’ special period.”
