The United States has significantly increased aerial surveillance over the Yucatán Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico, deploying submarine-hunting aircraft and drones to monitor waters close to Mexico’s coast — a buildup tied to the broader regional fallout from Washington’s military operation in Venezuela and its efforts to cut off Cuba’s oil supply.
A source close to Mexico’s Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional [Secretariat of National Defense] (Sedena) confirmed to the Mexican newsweekly Proceso that the number of U.S. military flights in the area had grown following the Jan. 3 operation in which U.S. forces captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The magazine documented the sustained presence of American drones and submarine-detection aircraft over the Gulf, starting just two days after the Venezuela operation and continuing through late January.
Among the aircraft tracked on the FlightRadar24 platform was a U.S. Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon — a maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft — identified by ICAO code AE67E8 and call sign BLKCAT5. The flight traced the coastlines of Campeche and Yucatán states.
Separately, a Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone was spotted off Yucatán’s coast. The drone, according to public reports, departed from Jacksonville, Florida, in the early morning hours. In the same period, a U.S. Air Force C-130J-30 Super Hercules — identified by registration number 14-5791 — was detected conducting maneuvers within 25 nautical miles of Isla Mujeres and Cancún.
On the night of Jan. 8, a military drone began a patrol off the Yucatán coast at 10 p.m. and continued flying until 8 a.m. the following morning.
In mid-January, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a series of NOTAM [Notice to Airmen] alerts, designating critical airspace zones across Latin America — including areas near Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama — valid from Jan. 16 through March 17, 2026.
Cuba Oil at the Center
Security analyst Raúl Benítez Manaut told Proceso that the surveillance is directly linked to Washington’s effort to enforce its oil blockade against Cuba. After U.S. forces removed Maduro, the Trump administration moved quickly to cut Cuba off from Venezuelan oil, which had supplied an estimated 35,000 barrels per day to the island.
Mexico stepped in as Cuba’s leading oil supplier, but the situation became increasingly fraught. On Jan. 29, President Trump signed an executive order threatening tariffs on any country supplying Cuba with oil. By early February, Mexico’s state-owned oil company Pemex had effectively suspended crude shipments to the island. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called the halt “a sovereign decision” and said Mexico would instead send humanitarian aid — two navy ships carrying more than 800 tons of food and supplies arrived in Havana on Feb. 12, with a second shipment following later in the month.
Benítez Manaut explained that the aerial monitoring is intended to detect whether Mexico is continuing to send petroleum to Cuba. “They are conducting very intense surveillance of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean coast,” he told Proceso, adding that Washington’s concern is not about oil sales per se but about what it views as donated fuel — a practice it contends violates the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.
Related: For more on the regional context, see Mexico’s oil dilemma at Yucatán Daily News and Cuba coverage at Yucatán Magazine.
Cuba’s fuel crisis has taken a severe toll. The island, which depends on imported oil for more than 80 percent of its power generation, has seen widespread blackouts, fuel rationing, and the suspension of aviation fuel to international airlines. The United Nations Secretary-General called the situation “extremely dire.” In late February, the U.S. Treasury Department partially eased the pressure by allowing companies to resell Venezuelan oil to Cuba’s private sector — though the Cuban government and military remain barred from the arrangement.
Mexico is not new to U.S. aerial attention. Last year, Proceso documented a U.S. warship operating near Mexican waters in Quintana Roo. The latest surveillance, though, reflects a sharper focus on the Yucatán Peninsula as a strategic vantage point in a quickly evolving regional standoff.
Neither the Mexican government nor Sedena had issued a public statement on the increased flight activity as of early March.
Quick Facts
- Aircraft observed include a Boeing P-8A Poseidon (ICAO AE67E8 / call sign BLKCAT5), a Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton drone, and a C-130J-30 Super Hercules (reg. 14-5791)
- Surveillance flights documented near the coasts of Yucatán and Campeche states, and within 25 nautical miles of Isla Mujeres and Cancún
- The FAA issued NOTAM alerts for Latin American airspace valid Jan. 16–March 17, 2026
- A source close to Sedena confirmed the increased U.S. flight activity to Proceso
- Mexico suspended oil shipments to Cuba in late January amid U.S. tariff threats
- Cuba depends on imported oil for more than 80% of its power generation
- The UN Secretary-General warned Cuba’s energy situation could “worsen, if not collapse”
- Mexico sent at least 2 shipments of humanitarian aid to Cuba in February 2026
Source: Diario de Yucatán, March 3, 2026; Proceso, March 2, 2026; Al Jazeera; NPR