The Vermont Air National Guard is involved in Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. military operation that resulted in Saturday’s capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.
A spokesperson for Vermont Sen. Peter Welch confirmed VTANG’s involvement in Operation Southern Spear with Vermont Public on Monday. “We do know members of the guard are safe at this time,” the spokesperson said.
Welch’s office had no further information to share about the Guard’s exact role and whether or not members were involved directly in Saturday’s raid.
During an interview on Vermont Edition on Monday, Rep. Becca Balint said she did not have any information about the Vermont Air National Guard’s current whereabouts, and did not know whether they were directly involved in the raid.
Balint criticized President Donald Trump for not communicating with members of Congress about the Guard and the recent military actions against Venezuela. The Vermont Air National Guard and their F-35A fighter jets were deployed to the Caribbean last month.
“You have a President and his administration right now that is not communicating with members of Congress about their own people, about their own constituents,” she said. “We have not been briefed. We have not been given any information about scope, about goals, about duration, and this is deeply concerning to me.”
A spokesperson for the Vermont Air National Guard told Vermont Edition that Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight, Vermont’s adjutant general, “will not be able to say anything about the operation. He can say that all VT Airmen are well and that command and control of Airmen on Title 10 orders falls to the area command, in this case SOUTHCOM.”
This hour of Vermont Edition also included interviews with state Rep. Troy Headrick (I-Burlington), St. Michael’s College assistant professor of political science Stephon Boatwright, and Global News photojournalist Dan Spector in Montreal.
