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Trump's Navy Boards a Tuna Boat in Venezuelan Waters [1]

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Date: 2025-09-14

Reuters: Venezuela says the U.S. intercepted and boarded a Venezuelan tuna vessel in a "hostile" manner

The Venezuelan government announced on Saturday that a U.S. destroyer intercepted, boarded and occupied a Venezuelan tuna fishing vessel for eight hours in the waters of the South American country's Special Economic Zone on Friday. In a statement read by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil, the government stated that the tuna vessel was boarded in an illegal and hostile manner, and that it was crewed by nine "humble" fishermen and was "harmless." . . . The Venezuelan government identified the U.S. vessel as the USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109), "equipped with powerful cruise missiles and manned by highly specialized marines." It demanded that the U.S. immediately cease targeting vessels, which it said puts "the security and peace of the Caribbean at risk."

Well, at least we didn’t shoot first this time. Still, eight hours. In Venezuelan territorial waters . economic zone (almost the same thing; in either case, our navy had no right to board).

AP via Washington Post has some more details: Venezuela says US navy raided a tuna boat in the Caribbean as tensions rise:

While reading a statement on Saturday, Foreign Minister Yván Gil told journalists the Venezuelan tuna boat was “illegally and hostilely boarded by a United States Navy destroyer” and 18 armed personnel who remained on the vessel for eight hours, preventing communication and the fishermen’s normal activities. They were then released under escort by the Venezuelan navy. The fishing boat had authorization from the Ministry of Fisheries to carry out its work, Gil said at a press conference, during which he presented photos of the incident. Along with the statement, Venezuela’s foreign affairs ministry distributed a short video, taken, according to the ministry, by the Venezuelan fishermen. In the video, it is alleged that part of the fishing boat, U.S. Navy personnel and the U.S. warship can be seen.

US News, CBS News, and other US media are carrying the story. No response from the White House yet, perhaps because they can’t decide whether they want to keep the media focused on Kirk or distracted from Epstein! Epstein! Epstein! And I have to suspect that this may be a deliberate escalation of Rubio’s longrunning campaign against Venezuela’s government.

While the U.S. has tried to move past its Cold War-era legacy of interfering and destabilizing governments in Latin America, Rubio frequently advocated for more action, going against Chávez and then Maduro. He tied the struggle of the opposition movement there to that of Cuban exiles.

Or maybe the Muddled Excrescence thinks this will get him that Nobel Peace Prize?

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