U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. military has carried out another strike against a Venezuelan drug cartel vessel that had been on its way to the United States, the second such strike in recent weeks.
He said three men were killed in the strike and no U.S. personnel were injured, adding that it occurred in international waters.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the target had been “positively identified [as] extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists,” adding that the cartels threaten U.S. national security, foreign policy and other interests.Â
The post included a nearly 30-second video, which appeared to show a vessel exploding and then on fire. Trump provided no evidence for his assertion that the boat was carrying drugs.
Venezuela’s Communications Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Buildup in southern Caribbean
The latest strike comes amid a large U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean. Five U.S. F-35 aircraft were seen landing in Puerto Rico on Saturday after the Trump administration ordered 10 of the stealth fighters to join the buildup in the region.
There are also at least seven U.S. warships in the region, along with one nuclear-powered submarine.
Earlier this month, the U.S. president announced a similar strike, off Venezuela, also involving what he alleged was a drug-carrying vessel.
The administration justified the earlier strike as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.
But several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, have indicated dissatisfaction with the administration’s rationale and questioned the legality of the action. They view it as a potential overreach of executive authority in part by using the military for law enforcement purposes.
The Trump has claimed self-defence as a legal justification for the first strike, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing the drug cartels “pose an immediate threat” to the nation.
U.S. officials said that strike targeted Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. And they indicated more military strikes on drug targets would be coming as the U.S. looks to “wage war” on cartels.
Trump did not specify whether Tren de Aragua was also the target of Monday’s strike.
The Trump administration has railed specifically against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for the scourge of illegal drugs in U.S. communities.
Maduro slams U.S.
Maduro earlier on Monday lashed out at the U.S. government, accusing the Trump administration of using drug-trafficking accusations as an excuse for a military operation whose intentions are “to intimidate and seek regime change” in the South American country.
Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Rubio reiterated that the U.S. doesn’t see Maduro as the rightful leader of Venezuela but as the head of a drug cartel.
“We’re not going to have a cartel, operating or masquerading as a government, operating in our own hemisphere,” Rubio said.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro points at a map of the Americas during a news conference in Caracas on Monday. He has said the U.S. is seeking ‘regime change’ in Venezuela. (Jesus Vargas/The Associated Press)