WAR BREWING? U.S. B-52s And Helicopters Spotted Flying Off Venezuela’s Coast

Tensions between the United States and Venezuela are at an all time high.

On Wednesday, two U.S. B-52 bombers were spotted flying off the coast of Venezuela for several hours.

Along with the B-52 bombers being spotted, helicopters from the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment have also been spotted flying in the region.

The New York Times reported more on the military movement off the coast of Venezuela:

The Trump administration is sharply increasing U.S. military pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian president, with a dramatic show of aerial threats in recent days as the Pentagon mounts a major troop buildup in the region.

On Wednesday, at least two B-52 bombers from Louisiana flew for several hours off the Venezuelan coast in international air space in what one senior U.S. official on Thursday called “a show of force.” The B-52s can carry dozens of precision-guided bombs.

Also in recent days, an elite Army Special Operations aviation unit has been conducting flights in the southern Caribbean Sea near the coast of Venezuela.

The helicopters, belonging to the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, have been flying training missions, not rehearsals for a possible military action inside Venezuela, said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.

But the official acknowledged that the regiment’s presence, reported earlier by The Washington Post, was meant to provide options to President Trump as he and his administration ratchet up pressure on suspected drug traffickers in the region and on Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian leader.

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration had secretly authorized the C.I.A. to conduct covert action in Venezuela.

The authorization is the latest step in the Trump administration’s intensifying pressure campaign against Venezuela. Since early September, U.S. Special Operations forces have struck at least five boats off the Venezuelan coast that the White House says are transporting drugs, killing 27 people. American officials have privately made it clear that the main goal is to drive Mr. Maduro from power.

Mr. Trump acknowledged on Wednesday that he had authorized the covert action and said the United States was considering strikes on Venezuelan territory.

The development comes as the U.S. military is planning its own possible escalation, drawing up options for President Trump to consider, including strikes inside Venezuela that could include troops from the 160th Regiment, a storied unit called the “The Night Stalkers” that conducted extensive counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

The size and scope of the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean region is significant. There are now about 10,000 U.S. troops, most of them at bases in Puerto Rico, but also some 2,200 Marines on amphibious assault ships. In all, the Navy has eight warships and a submarine in the Caribbean.

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Imagery that has circulated on social media in recent days and was verified by The Times shows at least six MH-6 Little Bird attack helicopters and three MH-60 Black Hawks flying over open water near an oil and gas platform off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago. Those aircraft are mainstays of the 160th Regiment.

BUNNY FLIGHT X3 USAF B-52 Bombers Out from Barksdale AFB, North of Venezuela in the Caribbean sea. pic.twitter.com/jwRAENcjz6

— Globe Sentinel (@GlobeSentinels) October 15, 2025

The move by the Pentagon comes as President Trump has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.

NBC News reported more on Trump giving the green light to the CIA:

The CIA’s operations abroad are usually shrouded in secrecy, but President Donald Trump said Wednesday he had authorized it to take unspecified action in Venezuela, an extraordinary and unprecedented acknowledgment from a commander in chief.

“Why did you authorize the CIA to go into Venezuela?” a reporter asked Trump at the White House.

“I authorized for two reasons, really,” Trump said. “No. 1, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America.”

The second reason, he said, was narcotics trafficking.

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“And the other thing are drugs. We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela,” he said.

Trump made the highly unusual remarks only hours after The New York Times reported that the Trump administration had authorized the CIA to carry out covert lethal action in Venezuela.

Asked whether the CIA had authority to “take out” the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, Trump said: “Oh, I don’t want to answer a question like that. That’s a ridiculous question for me to be given. Not really a ridiculous question, but wouldn’t it be a ridiculous question for me to answer?”

“I think Venezuela is feeling heat,” he added. “But I think a lot of other countries are feeling heat, too.”