An F-35 jet prepares to launch off the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercises about 100 miles south of Oahu, Hawaii, U.S. July 19, 2024. REUTERS/Marco Garcia/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States is not talking about regime change in Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Friday, as the United States ordered an additional 10 stealth fighter jets to a military buildup in the Caribbean.
"We're not talking about that, but we are talking about the fact that you had an election which was a very strange election, to put it mildly," Trump said, referring to the contested 2024 election the Venezuelan government says President Nicolas Maduro won.
Trump had been asked by reporters about a claim Maduro has made this week that the United States was seeking "regime change through military threat."
"The government of the United States should abandon its plan of violent regime change in Venezuela and in all of Latin America and respect sovereignty, the right to peace, to independence," Maduro said on state television.
"I respect Trump. None of the differences we've had can lead to a military conflict," Maduro added. "Venezuela has always been willing to converse, to dialogue."
Trump demonstrated his new approach to fighting the drug war with a U.S. military strike on Tuesday that killed 11 people and sank a boat from Venezuela which Trump said was transporting illegal narcotics.
The U.S. president is weighing options for further strikes, including potentially attacking suspected drug cartel targets inside Venezuela, CNN reported on Friday, citing multiple sources briefed on the administration's plans. Such a strike would mark a major escalation.
The White House, Pentagon and State Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the report.
'THEY'LL BE SHOT DOWN'
The Trump administration has ordered the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets to a Puerto Rico airfield to conduct operations against drug cartels, sources told Reuters on Friday.
The new deployment comes on top of an already bristling U.S. military presence in the southern Caribbean as Trump carries out a campaign pledge to crack down on groups funneling drugs into the United States.
The disclosure about the F-35s came just hours after the Pentagon accused Venezuela of a "highly provocative" flight on Thursday by fighter jets near a U.S. Navy warship.
Trump warned Venezuela that the U.S. military had authorization to shoot down the jets if commanders believed they needed to, saying: "If they do put us in a dangerous position, they'll be shot down."
At every turn, the Trump administration has sought to tie Maduro's government to narco trafficking, allegations Caracas denies.
Specifically, Trump has accused Maduro of running the Tren de Aragua gang, which his administration designated a terrorist organization in February.Maduro has denied any connection to Tren de Aragua, which his government says was rendered inactive in Venezuela by a prison raid in 2023.
Trump on Friday compared the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans in overdoses to war dead, as he sought to justify the muscular military activity in the Caribbean.
"Think if you're in a war and you lose 300,000 ... We're not going to allow it to happen," he said.
Venezuela's Communications Ministry did not respond to a request for comment about the F-35s or the allegations that Venezuelan fighter jets flew over a U.S. warship.
DEMOCRAT CONDEMNS 'LAWLESS' ACTS
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.
F-35s are highly advanced stealth fighters and would be effective in combat against Venezuela's air force, which includes F-16 aircraft.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two Venezuelan F-16s flew over the guided missile destroyer Jason Dunham on Thursday. The Dunham is one of at least seven U.S. warships deployed to the Caribbean, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines.
U.S. Marines and sailors from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit have also been carrying out amphibious training and flight operations in southern Puerto Rico.
The buildup has put pressure on Maduro, whom U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called "effectively a kingpin of a drug narco state."
U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, condemned what she called Trump's "lawless" actions in the southern Caribbean.
"Congress has not declared war on Venezuela, or Tren de Aragua, and the mere designation of a group as a terrorist organization does not give any President carte blanche to ignore Congress's clear Constitutional authority on matters of war and peace," Omar said in a statement.
U.S. officials have not clearly explained what legal justificationwas used for Tuesday's air strike on the boat or what drugs were on board.
Trump said on Tuesday, without providing evidence, thatthe U.S. military had identified the crew of the vessel as Tren de Aragua members.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Phil Stewart; Editing by Scott Malone, Edwina Gibbs, Mark Porter, Alistair Bell and William Mallard)
