Just north of Venezuela's Isla de Margarita in international waters, there has been another international incident involving the U.S. Navy: a hummingbird, identified as a species from Venezuela and Columbia, buzzed the USS Ronald Reagan and its crew members.
Retired rear Admiral John F. Kirby held a press conference in Washington D.C. to talk about the incident.
"Yesterday the crew reported that a Patagona gigas, or giant hummingbird buzzed our aircraft carrier yesterday and performed a barrel roll over the USS Ronald Reagan. Immediately after that, the bird made aggressive maneuvers towards several members of the deck crew who were wearing red shirts. Given the limited flight range of the bird and the ships position this could only have come from Venezuela."
Admiral Kirby went on: "While the crew and pilots in flight responded to the incident with the utmost professionalism thereby preventing an escalation of the incident, we implore the Venezuelan armed forces to use all their caution and restraint as well. I have been informed that our ambassador to Venezuela will be lodging a complaint with the Venezuelan government."
The incident comes at an unfortunate time, relations between the two countries have been on the mend after the death of Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez. Chavez had nothing but blistering criticism for the U.S. during his presidency, calling the U.S. a "bully" and "a violent invader."
