Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez claimed that five U.S. jets approached the country's coastline on Thursday, an action he described as "military harassment." "I am denouncing this military harassment in front of the world," the official said in a televised address. Padrino didn't specify where the incident took place nor if the country's authoritarian government will respond to the sorties. The claim took place a day after President Donald Trump declared cartels as unlawful combatants and said the U.S. is now in a "non-international armed conflict" with them. Since they claim Maduro leads a criminal organization, removing him could be framed as a counternarcotics operation.