Two Venezuelan Sukhoi fighter jets flew over a U.S. aircraft carrier off Guyana's coast during the 59 minutes from 6:16 PM to 7:16 PM UTC on December 21, 2025, according to a Facebook post shared by AntroCanal citing a breaking news story reviewed by Guyanese. An X post by @WW3_Monitor stated that the Venezuelan Air Force launched Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30MKV fighter jets in addition to reported F-16 Fighting Falcon activity, with local observers confirming at least one F-16 takeoff from an airbase on Margarita Island. The Facebook post included rhetoric criticizing Guyana's territorial claims, referring to it as a "deposit called 'Guyana' that lives usurped 74% of the territory it administers." These aerial reports occur amid U.S. Coast Guard pursuits of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers off Venezuela's coast earlier on December 21, including the dark fleet tanker BELLA 1 (IMO 9230880) near coordinates 18N 58W, as stated by U.S. officials to Reuters and the Washington Post in prior periods.
