A B-52 bomber from Minot Air Force Base, Mont., flew over the Caribbean Sea and near Venezuela on Nov. 24, according to open-source flight tracking data—the second time in five days such a mission has unfolded.
A spokesperson for U.S. Southern Command declined to comment on operational matters. But officials have confirmed similar previous flights, and the aircraft flew with its transponder on just off the Venezuelan coast.
The flight is presumably part of Operation Southern Spear, the monitoring of drug trafficking near Venezuela.
Aviation enthusiasts and flight trackers noted two B-52s, callsigns PAPPY11 and PAPPY12, flying southeast from Minot to the Kentucky/Tennessee border earlier in the day, then almost due south toward the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.
One of the bombers subsequently turned back and returned to base, while the other continued and skirted the coast of Venezuela with Navy F/A-18 fighters, at one point passing north of the capital Caracas.
At the time SOUTHCOM declined comment, the B-52 was still flying. But officials have acknowledged and even publicized flights after they conclude.
On Nov. 20, for example, multiple B-52s from Minot flew to the Caribbean. A day later, Air Forces Southern, the service component for the region, stated on social media that the Nov. 20 flight was a “Bomber Attack Demo,” language consistent with other, recent bomber sorties to the Caribbean. A U.S. official described it a “presence patrol.”
The flights are seen as part of a pressure campaign to get Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to step down. The Trump administration has also conducted some 21 U.S. airstrikes on alleged drug boats in the area, killing at least 83 people. The administration has released no other details about those killed or the boats.
The administration maintains it has the legal authority to conduct such strikes because it categorizes drug cartels as terrorist groups that pose a threat to the U.S.
Other U.S. military air assets known to be operating in the region include Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drones, 10 Marine Corps F-35B fighters flying from Puerto Rico, Air Force AC-130 gunships flying from bases in Puerto Rico and El Salvador, and Navy P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.
