MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US B-52 approaches Venezuelan coast as tension mounts

There was no military response from Caracas to the US B-52's mission

Just hours after designating the Cartel of the Suns as a terrorist organization of which Nicolás Maduro would be its leader, the United States forces conducted one of its closest flyovers of Venezuelan territory since the start of its military deployment in the southern Caribbean.

A B-52 strategic bomber identified as “PAPPY11” —capable of carrying nuclear and conventional weapons— escorted by at least three FA-18 warplanes tagged as “RHINO” approached the coast with no response from the Chavista regime.

The squad flew parallel to the Venezuelan coast, passing near the Paraguaná Peninsula and close to La Orchila and La Tortuga Islands, nearing Caracas' Simón Bolívar International Airport.

The airspace appeared virtually empty of private traffic. Over 70,000 people reportedly logged onto tracking platforms like FlightRadar24 to follow the B-52's path before the aircraft turned north and disabled its transponders.

The mission coincided with increased activity at the former Roosevelt Roads naval base in Puerto Rico. US sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity that a new phase of operations regarding Venezuela was coming up.

Experts warned that the Cartel of the Suns was not a cohesive, hierarchical “cartel per se.” The term originated in the 1990s as a loose descriptor for high-ranking Venezuelan military and government officials involved in corruption, including drug, fuel, and illegal mining trafficking.

Maduro’s government categorically denied the cartel's existence, branding the US accusation a “ridiculous fabrication” intended to justify an “illegitimate and illegal intervention” aimed at regime change.

Amid the escalating tension, Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary-General Albert Ramdin expressed his readiness for a possible democratic transition in Venezuela should Nicolás Maduro leave power. “The OAS is always ready to support a country in a transition process,” Ramdin said.

He added that the OAS was holding discreet talks with both opposition and pro-Maduro supporters, as well as with the United States and other member states, to assist if a transition becomes necessary.

In a connected development, Air Europa and Estelar joined the list of airlines canceling their services to Venezuela.