'Tensions between the US and Venezuela continue to play out at sea'

FRANCE 24 English

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00:01Tensions between Venezuela and the US continue to play out at sea,

00:05with the US accusing two armed Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets like these ones

00:10of flying over a US Navy ship.

00:13The Department of Defense called the move highly provocative

00:16and an attempt to interfere with counter-narcotics operations.

00:19Earlier this week, the US killed 11 people in a military strike

00:23against a suspected drug vessel that the Trump administration said

00:26was linked to the trendy Aragua Gang, an act that legal experts say

00:30may have violated international law.

00:33The US Secretary of Defense has since doubled down on the decision.

00:36We smoked a drug boat and there's 11 narco terrorists at the bottom of the ocean

00:40and when other people try to do that, they're going to meet the same fate.

00:43These escalations come amid a US military build-up in the Caribbean,

00:47part of the President's crackdown on criminal cartels in Latin America.

00:51It was announced Friday that Trump will even be sending 10 F-35 fighter jets

00:56to Puerto Rico to bolster military operations.

00:59And on a trip to Ecuador, the Secretary of State announced $20 million in funding

01:04to help the country fight gangs at home.

01:06Venezuela, however, has been less willing to cooperate,

01:09angered by the US's increased military presence off its coast.

01:13Its leader, Nicolas Maduro, has instead called for a nationwide militia enlistment campaign

01:18and says the new recruits are starting their training this week.

01:22We are not idiots, we have never been, and we will never be.

01:29We are facing extremist forces from the north, Nazi extremists,

01:36and humanity must know this.

01:39The US calls Maduro a drug trafficker and a terrorist.

01:42Last month, it doubled its reward for his arrest to $50 million.

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