12:59 12-11-2025

CNN Reveals U.S. Weapons Used in Strikes Near Venezuela

By Airman 1st Class Alexander Cook - https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4822354/f-35-heritage-flight-team-performs-bell-fort-worth-alliance-airshow, Public Domain, Link

CNN reports the U.S. uses Reaper drones, AC-130J gunships, and F-35 jets to strike alleged drug traffickers near Venezuela, killing 76 since September.

CNN has reported, citing its sources, details about the weapons used by the United States to carry out airstrikes on boats allegedly belonging to drug traffickers near the coast of Venezuela.

According to the network’s sources, most of the attacks are conducted using MQ-9 Reaper drones armed with Hellfire missiles. Some strikes, however, are carried out by manned aircraft — including AC-130J gunships and F-35 fifth-generation fighter jets.

CNN noted that a significant portion of these U.S. assets is concentrated in Puerto Rico.

Since early September, the U.S. military has conducted 19 airstrikes, destroying 20 boats and killing 76 people allegedly involved in drug trafficking from Latin America to the United States.

Earlier in the autumn, NBC reported that the U. S. Armed Forces were also considering potential strikes on Venezuelan territory itself.

In November, U. S. President Donald Trump declared that the «days of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s rule are numbered,» while insisting that the United States does not plan to go to war with Caracas.

Meanwhile, Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned Washington’s actions toward Venezuela, accusing Trump of seeking to take control of the Bolivarian republic’s oil under the guise of combating drug trafficking. Petro said the real goal of the United States is to establish American dominance over Venezuela’s oil industry and stressed that such actions violate international law.