The United States has hit another vessel allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three people, US President Donald Trump said Monday.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said that the strike took place “while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics” headed to the US.
Trump also included a nearly 30-second video, with markings of “Unclassified,” which appeared to show a boat in a body of water exploding and then catching fire.
He did not provide evidence for his claim that the vessel was carrying drugs.
The latest strike comes amid a large US military buildup in the Caribbean. At least eight US warships have been dispatched to the region, including one nuclear-powered submarine.
First US strike on alleged Venezuela drug boat
The operation comes two weeks after the first strike on September 2, when 11 people were killed on an alleged drug boat traveling from Venezuela.
That strike prompted concerns about whether Washington had violated international law.
Trump said the operation was necessary to warn alleged drug traffickers against trying to smuggle drugs into the US.
“Obviously, they won’t be doing it again. And I think a lot of other people won’t be doing it again. When they watch that tape, they’re going to say, ‘Let’s not do this’,” said Trump, referring to the footage he shared on Truth Social, which he says shows the destruction of a boat he claimed was carrying drugs.
In an interview with Fox News during a visit to Jerusalem earlier Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that “we have 100% fidelity and certainty that that boat was involved in that trafficking of those drugs,” Rubio said.
Rubio claimed the number of drug smuggling boats to the US had “dropped dramatically” since the first strike.
Maduro denounces US ‘aggression’
Hours before Trump’s post on the second strike, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that recent incidents were an “aggression” by Washington.
“This isn’t tension. It is an aggression all down the line, it’s a judicial aggression when they criminalize us, a political aggression with their daily threatening statements, a diplomatic aggression and an ongoing aggression of military character,” Maduro said during a press conference.
Referring to the US Navy’s increased presence in the Caribbean and the strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats, Maduro told reporters that Caracas would “fully” exercise its “legitimate right to defend itself.”
The leftist leader also said communications with the Trump administration had broken down.
Maduro, who has been in office since succeeding the late President Hugo Chavez in 2013, has repeatedly alleged the US is hoping to drive him from power.
Edited by: Karl Sexton
