Venezuela does have SU 30 's ,russian, also flown by Chinas Navy, equiped with mach 4 plus shipkiller missles and given the current situation, it would be very much in the interest of those other parties to see that Venezuela was operating the updated versions of those missles, which as we all know, are the most important weapons in any battle today. China got a freebee test when Pakistan and India traded shots, and it is quite clear that the Chinese hardware got everyone's attention, the rub is that there is no way that the missles used were China's best, but we do know that Chnia has a special interest in ship killer missles, and just so happens to fly, exactly the same basic platform as Venezuela. The US military knows its the big dog, but they are looking at Venezuela like it's a nasty feral cat.

The US government blew up a ship said to be delivering these drugs. It did not, as far as anyone has said, give those on the ship the option of surrendering.