Venezuela condemned what its foreign ministry called an illegal and “hostile” seizure of a fishing boat by a U.S. destroyer on Saturday, accusing the USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) of intercepting, boarding, and occupying the vessel in Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone and detaining nine “humble” fishermen for eight hours.

“The warship deployed 18 armed agents who boarded and occupied the small, harmless boat for eight hours,” the ministry said, calling the operation a “direct provocation through the illegal use of excessive military means.”

The boarding follows a U.S. military strike in the Caribbean this month that killed 11 people after Washington said the target was transporting narcotics.

Caracas has flatly rejected that account: Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said investigators found none of the dead were members of the Tren de Aragua gang and denounced the strike as “a murder using lethal force.”

The claim that those killed were gang members has been disputed and has prompted calls in the U.S. Congress for more evidence and legal justification.

President Nicolás Maduro framed the incidents as part of a broader pattern of pressure from Washington and ordered troops, police, and civilian militias deployed to 284 “battlefront” locations, warning, “We’re ready for an armed fight, if it’s necessary.” Caracas says U.S. actions amount to a campaign of coercion and regime-change pressure.

The Trump administration has intensified its posture in the southern Caribbean — sending warships and deploying F-35 jets to Puerto Rico while doubling a reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million — moves critics say conflate counternarcotics with political coercion and risk a dangerous escalation.