Venezuela denounced assault on a fishing vessel by a US destroyer in the Caribbean

Published at: 13/09/2025 02:29 PM

The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounced this Saturday the assault on a fishing vessel by a destroyer ship of the United States (US) Navy in the Caribbean.

In an official statement, read to the media by Foreign Minister Yván Gil, Venezuela described the act as an illegal and hostile act that “seeks to justify an escalation of war in the Caribbean.”

The diplomat specified that the boat attacked was the tuna boat Carmen Rosa, which was on the island of La Blanquilla, where it was assaulted by a unit of the US Navy, with the acronym DDE-109, equipped “with weapons, missiles and 18 military personnel with long weapons, weapons of war”.

Below is the full text of the document:

U.S. missile destroyer assaults Caribbean tuna fishermen

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces that, this Friday, September 12, the Venezuelan vessel "Carmen Rosa “, manned by nine humble tuna fishermen, which sailed 48 nautical miles northeast of La Blanquilla Island, in waters belonging to the Venezuelan Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), was illegally and hostily assaulted by a destroyer of the United States Navy, the USS “Jason Dunham” (DDG-109), equipped with powerful cruise missiles and manned by highly trained marines.

The warship deployed eighteen personnel with long weapons who boarded and occupied the small and harmless vessel for eight hours, preventing the communication and normal functioning of the fishermen who were carrying out an authorized tuna fishing task, in an operation that lacks any strategic proportionality and that constitutes a direct provocation through the illegal use of exaggerated military means.

Those who give the order to carry out these provocations are looking for an incident that justifies an escalation of war in the Caribbean, in order to insist on their policy, failed and rejected by the people of the United States themselves, of regime change. Placing their soldiers and officers as cannon fodder and exposing their lives once again, they repeat the story of other events that generated eternal wars such as that of Vietnam.

The incident reflects the shameful behavior of political sectors in Washington that irresponsibly commit extremely expensive military resources and trained soldiers as instruments to manufacture pretexts for war adventures, also undermining their own military prestige and honor, by carrying out this grotesque and excessive maneuver.

The Bolivarian National Armed Forces, faithful to their constitutional duty, monitored and recorded the incident minute by minute with the air, naval and surveillance resources it possesses, accompanying the fishermen at all times until their liberation, demonstrating Venezuela's full capacity to monitor, deter and respond to any threat, without falling into provocations that tarnish their vocation for peace.

The Venezuelan government demands that the United States immediately cease these actions that jeopardize the security and peace of the Caribbean, while calling on the American people to recognize the seriousness of these maneuvers and reject the use of their soldiers as pieces of sacrifice to sustain the desires of a greedy and predatory elite.

Our country reaffirms its commitment to peace and will continue to defend its sovereignty and the security of its waters against any provocation.

Caracas, September 13, 2025.

Mazo News Team