The Minister of Defense of Venezuela, Vladimir Padrino López, confirmed that two United States F-18 aircraft flew over the territory of his country last Tuesday. Crossed this out as an attempt at intimidation.
The flight had been over the Gulf of Venezuela, with a duration of 40 minutes, according to the Flightradar24 platform.
“We have been seeing attempts to intimidate us, bringing air vectors of the United States Armed Forces closer to our coasts.” (…) we here with great humility tell you not to be mistaken about us, we are prepared to defend this country,” said the official during an event for the 47th anniversary of the comprehensive aerospace defense command, broadcast by the state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).
Padrino López maintained that this action will not break the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) or the Venezuelan people.
“We have the capacity to react and defend our airspace, make no mistake and do not continue with your operations game.” psychological ones that we do not swallow at all, not at all,” he reiterated.
On Tuesday, two American F-18 fighter jets entered, as shown by the aviation tracking service Flightradar24, in the airspace over the waters of the Gulf of Venezuela for about 40 minutes.
🚨🇻🇪 Godfather López to the US: “Make no mistake, we know how to defend Venezuelan airspace”
🇻🇪 The regime’s Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, issued a direct warning to the US this Friday, although without directly referring to the overflight of combat aircraft… pic.twitter.com/3h7zJ77dzI
— EVTV (@EVTVMiami) December 12, 2025
The overflight occurred around 12:00 local time in an area of the gulf about 160 kilometers northeast of Maracaibo, the second most populated Venezuelan city.
The two aircraft, identified as two F-18s of the F variant, which are two-seat, made several roundabouts in a corkscrew shape before flying north to a point located about 50 kilometers west of Aruba, where the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, the largest and most sophisticated of the United States, is believed to be located.
The Pentagon sent the ship a few weeks ago, which joined a huge contingent that Washington has maintained in the Caribbean since the end of August and that represents its largest deployment in the region in decades, under the argument of combating drug trafficking, but that Caracas considers a threat to promote a change of Government.
One day after this overflight, the Donald Trump Administration intercepted and confiscated an oil tanker near Venezuelan waters, which was described by the Government of Nicolás Maduro as a “robbery”.
