Three Barksdale Air Force Base B-52 bombers and their flight crews from the Bossier Parish installation flew off the coast of Venezuela Oct. 15 in a show of force as President Trump ramps up military pressure to combat the flow of drugs from cartels in the Caribbean country to the U.S.
Barksdale is the largest U.S. B-52 base, where all of the Stratofortress aircraft crews are trained and home to the 2nd and 307th Bomb Wings.
It’s located in U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Louisiana 4th Congressional District.
Trump said he is considering U.S. military strikes on land targets in Venezuela after five maritime attacks in recent weeks on suspected drug smuggling boats.
“We are certainly looking at land now because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” Trump told reporters Oct. 15.
Trump has confirmed that the CIA is conducting covert operations there against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime, who Trump considers complicit in advancing the illegal drug trade.
“A lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea, so you get to see that, but we’re going to stop them by land also,” Trump said.
USA Today contributed to this report.
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Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Louisiana Barksdale B-52 bombers flex U.S. military muscle near Venezuela
