Three U.S. B-52 bombers conducted a flyover off the Venezuelan coast as the Trump administration escalates pressure against the Maduro regime.
One of the planes appeared to draw a penis with its flight path, according to analysts following its trajectory.
Local outlet Monitoreamos detailed that the B-52H Stratofortress, identified as BUNNY01 (61-0010), BUNNY02 (60-0052) y BUNNY03 (60-0033), stayed for a few minutes in the area off Venezuela’s coast.
It is the latest escalatory move by the Trump administration against the Maduro regime. On Tuesday, Trump announced that a fifth alleged drug boat had been struck, killing six people.
The attack took place as the commander of the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) Alvin Holsey visits Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago, two countries geographically close to Venezuela. The armed forces are seeking to install military equipment in Grenada, located 100 miles from the South American country. Grenada has not replied to the request. Antigua and Barbuda rejected holding any military equipment from the U.S.
Several reports throughout the past weeks have also detailed other moves, including that there are now 10,000 troops deployed in the region. They are in Puerto Rico and aboard eight surface warships and a submarine.
Despite the escalation, Venezuelan insiders have claimed that Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro won’t relinquish power voluntarily despite increased pressure.
Speaking to Spanish outlet El Pais, one people with knowledge of the regime’s thinking said “Maduro is not going anywhere.” “Maduro has practically no other fate than resisting whatever comes and waiting for Trump to hesitate,” the person added.
Trump has anticipated the possibility of escalating the situation further with strikes inside Venezuela territory. However, the report added, the South American country’s leaders (Delcy and Jorge Rodriguez, Diosdado Cabello and Vladimir Padrino Lopez), along with Maduro, have “developed their survival instincts to the fullest after more than six years of governing in extreme situations,” and think “this storm shall pass too.”
Concretely, they believe that the cost of an armed clash would be too high for the U.S. and Trump will back down before getting to that point.
Originally published on Latin Times
