A trio of U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers was tracked flying orbits in international airspace off the coast of Venezuela earlier today. This is a major show of force that comes amid a larger U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, ostensibly aimed at stemming the flow of illegal drugs north. At the same time, the Trump administration has been focusing particular pressure on the regime of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, and the possibility of direct military action, beyond at times lethal maritime interdiction operations, has been steadily growing.

The three B-52s, with the calligns BUNNY01, BUNNY02, and BUNNY03, were tracked leaving Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and heading south early this morning. The bombers subsequently turned east and flew to a patch of international airspace within what Venezuela refers to as the Maiquetía Flight Information Region (FIR).