WASHINGTON: The US has ordered the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets to a Puerto Rico airfield to conduct operations against drug cartels, two sources briefed on the matter said, in a move likely to further inflame tensions in the region.
The advanced fighter jets will be added to an already bristling US military presence in the southern Caribbean as President Donald Trump carries out a campaign pledge to crack down on groups he blames for funneling drugs into the United States.
Friday’s development comes three days after US forces attacked a boat that Trump said was carrying “massive amounts of drugs” from Venezuela, killing 11 people. The strike appeared to set the stage for a sustained military campaign in Latin America.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, 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 US has deployed warships in the southern Caribbean in recent weeks, with the aim of carrying out Trump’s crackdown.
Seven US warships and one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine are either in the region or expected to be there soon, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines. US Marines and sailors from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit have been carrying out amphibious training and flight operations in southern Puerto Rico.
The buildup has put pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called “effectively a kingpin of a drug narco state.”
Maduro, at a rare news conference in Caracas on Monday, said the United States is “seeking a regime change through military threat.”
US officials have not said what legal justification was used for Tuesday’s air strike on the boat or what drugs were on board.
Trump said on Tuesday, without providing evidence, that the US military had identified the crew of the vessel as members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which Washington designated a terrorist group in February.
US deploying 10 fighter jets to Puerto Rico for drug cartel fight, sources say
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US deploying 10 fighter jets to Puerto Rico for drug cartel fight, sources say
- The advanced fighter jets will be added to an already bristling US military presence in the southern Caribbean as President Donald Trump carries out a campaign pledge to crack down on groups he blames for funneling drugs into the United States
Spanish PM announces $710 million in military aid for Ukraine
- Sanchez says, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “neo-imperialism” aims to “weaken the European project and everything it stands for”
MADRID: Spain will give Ukraine a fresh military aid package worth 615 million euros ($710 million) to help it fight Russia’s invasion, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday.
Speaking at a Madrid press conference alongside visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Sanchez said around 300 million euros will go toward “new defense equipment.”
“Your fight is ours,” Sanchez said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “neo-imperialism” aims to “weaken the European project and everything it stands for.”
The announcement came after the leaders signed several bilateral agreements, including measures to combat Russian disinformation.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, tens of thousands of people — both civilians and soldiers — have died, and millions have been displaced, leaving large swathes of the country devastated.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sanchez and Zelensky visited Madrid’s Reina Sofía Museum to view Pablo Picasso’s anti-war masterpiece “Guernica.”
In April 2022, just weeks after Russia’s invasion, Zelensky compared it to the 1937 bombing of Guernica, a small Basque town attacked by Nazi warplanes in support of Franco’s troops during the Spanish Civil War.
Zelensky, who visited Paris on Monday, is scheduled to travel to Turkiye on Wednesday for renewed peace talks involving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
