Where are U.S. military aircraft and warships stationed near Venezuela?

Several U.S. military aircraft have been spotted flying near the coast of Venezuela as tensions continue to rise in the region.

The United States has deployed thousands of troops and the world’s largest warships within striking distance of the country.

It is the largest U.S. military deployment in Latin America in decades, fueling speculation that Venezuela may take some kind of military action.

The United States has carried out a series of airstrikes in recent months on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which the Trump administration says are necessary to stem the flow of drugs.

BBC verify has so far been tracking warships and aircraft involved in the military buildup.

The Caribbean buildup began in August with the deployment of air and naval units, including a nuclear-powered submarine and spy planes According to U.S. officials.

It now includes a series of aircraft carriers, guided missile destroyers and amphibious assault ships capable of landing thousands of troops.

BBC verify this month confirmed the locations of six warships in the area by cross-referencing ship tracking data and satellite imagery.

These include the USS Gerald R. Ford, which the Navy describes as “the most capable, adaptable and lethal combat platform in the world.”

The ship is over 330 meters (1,100 feet) long and forms a strike group with other support ships.

BBC verify also spotted several other ships in the Caribbean, including a guided missile destroyer, an amphibious transport dock, a guided missile cruiser and an amphibious assault ship.

We also discovered a vessel suspected to be the MV Ocean Trader. This is the mother ship of the U.S. Special Operations Command and can serve as a base for 200 soldiers and has a hangar for multiple helicopters.

The United States has also deployed F-35 fighter jets fly to their Caribbean baseand flew bombers and reconnaissance aircraft over the area.

BBC verify used flight tracking data to identify four US military aircraft flying near Venezuela on November 20 and 21.

At around 23:45 GMT (19:45 local time) on November 20, a US B-52 long-range bomber briefly appeared on the flight tracking website Flightradar24 near Venezuela’s eastern neighbor Guyana.

Data shows that the bomber, with the call sign TIMEX11, took off from North Dakota, USA, that afternoon and returned to the state the next morning.

Just after 22:00 GMT (18:00 local time) on November 20, a US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft (call sign ALBUS39) appeared in flight tracking data, flying near the east coast of Venezuela for about two hours.

Around the same time, a U.S. Navy Super Hornet fighter jet (call sign FELIX 11) circled over the West Coast.

At around 01:30 GMT (21:30 local time) on November 21, a US Air Force tanker (call sign PYRO33) was also flying over the southern Caribbean Sea. It then stopped broadcasting its position until it was later seen heading northwest.

In October, three B-52 bombers took off from an Air Force base in Louisiana and circled near the coast of Venezuela before returning, according to flight tracking data from FlightRadar24.

Tracking data last month showed several P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft flying south from a U.S. Navy base in Florida over the Caribbean Sea.

Experts say the flights indicate the United States is trying to gather military intelligence from the region.

“We see P-8A activity anywhere around the world where the U.S. Navy is interested in increasing its maritime domain awareness,” said Henry Ziemer, an Americas expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

US President Donald Trump also acknowledged that he authorized CIA to launch covert operation in Venezuelaalthough the scope of what that might mean remains highly confidential.

The buildup has fueled concerns that the United States is preparing to target Venezuela directly or possibly try to overthrow the socialist government of President Nicolás Maduro.

“The size of the forces, and the fact that they are clearly not designed for purely counternarcotics purposes, raises suspicions that the United States may be at war with Venezuela,” Zimmer said.

“The risks of escalation are significant, but I think there’s still considerable debate within the Trump administration about what happens next,” he added.

Asked whether the United States would go to war with Venezuela, Trump told CBS’s 60 Minutes on Nov. 3: “I doubt it… but they’ve been treating us very badly.”

The Venezuelan government accuses the United States of fanning tensions in the region with the aim of overthrowing the government.

In response, they announced a “massive mobilization” of the military in November, sending 200,000 personnel across the country.

“Overall, I believe the pace of strikes against maritime targets will increase in the near future as the United States tries to make a decision on whether strikes can be carried out inside Venezuela,” Zimmer said.

Between September 2 and November 19, the US military conducted 21 separate attacks in international waters in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, hitting at least 22 ships.

Most of these attacks occurred off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia.

U.S. Southern Command Announcing the latest strikeThe operation in international waters in the eastern Pacific on Saturday killed three “male drug terrorists” on board the ship.

In total, at least 83 people have died, according to statements from U.S. officials.

Although the US military did not publicly confirm the identities of those killed, it claimed that they were all “narco-terrorists.”

one According to an Associated Press investigative report Several Venezuelan nationals killed in the attack were low-level traffickers driven by poverty into crime, as well as at least one local crime boss.

Trump and members of his administration believe the crackdowns are necessary to stem the flow of drugs from Latin America to the United States.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement that the operation, officially known as Operation Southern Spear, was designed to rid our hemisphere of “narco-terrorists” and ensure the United States was safe from “the drugs that kill our people.”

In some cases, U.S. officials claimed the targets were linked to the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration earlier this year.

But the Pentagon has officially released little information about the targets or the drug-trafficking organizations to which they allegedly belong.

The Trump administration insists the attacks are legal and views them as necessary self-defense measures aimed at saving American lives.

But some legal experts say the attacks may be illegal and violate international law by targeting civilians without providing suspects due process.

Additional reporting by Tom Edgington and Bernd Debusmann Jr. Illustration by Leo Scutt-Richter.