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By Gabe Whisnant and John Feng
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Two U.S. Air Force heavy bombers have been tracked Thursday flying near the Venezuelan coast in what appeared to be a show of force linked to President Donald Trump’s latest regional pressure campaign.
Both aircraft are conventionally armed Boeing B‑52H Stratofortress models, according to publicly available flight data on the website Flightradar24. The planes were flying under the call signs TITO41 and TITO42.
The sorties are the latest in what the Air Force is calling "bomber attack demonstrations" in the Caribbean region. Last month, three groups of B-52H and B-1B Lancers flew similar publicly visible missions to within tens of miles of Venezuela's coast.
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The movement of these assets in the southern Caribbean underscores U.S. concerns about regional stability and the influence of Venezuela under President Nicolas Maduro.
Newsweek has reached out to the Pentagon via email on Thursday afternoon for comment.
US Strikes in Caribbean, Pacific: What to Know
The Trump administration said the U.S. military has killed at least 66 people in 16 strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since early September.
President Trump has defended the attacks as a necessary step to curb the flow of narcotics into the United States, saying the country is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. He has invoked the same legal authority the Bush administration used to wage war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The growing number of strikes has sparked debate in Congress over the limits of presidential power, with lawmakers questioning the lack of congressional approval or independent investigation into the killings. An unusual U.S. naval buildup off South America has also fueled fears of a possible move against Maduro, who faces U.S. narcoterrorism charges.
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Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked legislation that would have limited President Trump’s authority to launch a military attack against Venezuela, as Democrats pushed for Congress to play a stronger role in overseeing his escalating campaign against President Nicolás Maduro.
Lawmakers from both parties, including several top Republicans, have called on the administration to provide more details about recent U.S. strikes on alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. But the 49-51 vote against the measure signaled that most Republicans are willing to give Trump wide latitude to continue expanding the U.S. military presence in the region.
“President Trump has taken decisive action to protect thousands of Americans from lethal narcotics,” said Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the only Republicans to support the measure, which Democrats said was necessary to prevent Trump from ordering an attack on Venezuelan soil without congressional approval.
Updates: 11/6/25, 5:39 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.
Updates: 11/6/25, 7:51 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.
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