Venezuela on Saturday hit out at the United States for allegedly seizing a fishing boat for eight hours in its exclusive economic zone, as the U.S. military patrols the Caribbean to target drug cartels.
The vessel carrying nine fishermen was “illegally and hostilely” detained on Friday by the USS Jason Dunham, a destroyer, the foreign ministry in Caracas said in a statement.
The ministry said the boat was manned by tuna fishermen, which was sailing 48 nautical miles northeast of La Blanquilla Island, which belongs to Venezuela.
“The warship deployed 18 armed agents who boarded and occupied the small, harmless boat for eight hours,” the statement said, calling the incident a “direct provocation through the illegal use of excessive military means.”
Those who ordered the seizure “are looking for an incident to justify escalating war in the Caribbean, with the aim of regime change” in Caracas, the statement said.
It demanded that the U.S. “immediately cease these actions that endanger security and peace in the Caribbean.”
The statement addressed the American people, saying that the Venezuelan government wants them, “to recognize the seriousness of these maneuvers and reject the use of their soldiers as sacrificial pieces to sustain the desires of a greedy and predatory elite.”
Tensions between the two countries have soared in recent weeks after Washington deployed warships in the southern Caribbean, as President Trump steps up pressure on Maduro.
The United States accuses the leftist leader of heading a cocaine trafficking cartel and recently doubled its bounty for his capture to $50 million.
Earlier this month, U.S. forces blew up an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, killing 11 people. Mr. Trump said it belonged to the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organization he tied to Maduro.
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