By AAMER MADHANI and REGINA GARCIA CANO, Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump stated Tuesday that the U.S. has carried out a strike within the southern Caribbean in opposition to a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela and was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang.
The president stated 11 had been killed within the operation.
“The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States,” Trump stated in a social media posting. “No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated earlier on X that the vessel was being operated by a “designated narco-terrorist organization.” He described the operation as a deadly strike.
Rubio addressed the strike on Tuesday shortly earlier than he was scheduled to depart for Mexico and Ecuador for talks on drug cartels, safety, tariffs and extra.
The U.S. not too long ago introduced plans to spice up its maritime power within the waters off Venezuela to fight threats from Latin American drug cartels.
The U.S. has not signaled any deliberate land incursion by the 1000’s of personnel being deployed. Nonetheless, President Nicolás Maduro’s authorities has responded by deploying troops alongside Venezuela’s coast and border with neighboring Colombia, in addition to by urging Venezuelans to enlist in a civilian militia.
Maduro has insisted that the U.S. is constructing a false drug-trafficking narrative to attempt to power him out of workplace. He and different authorities officers have repeatedly cited a United Nations report that they are saying reveals traffickers try to maneuver solely 5% of the cocaine produced in Colombia by means of Venezuela. Landlocked Bolivia and Colombia, with entry to the Pacific and Caribbean, are the world’s high cocaine producers.
The most recent U.N. World Drug Report reveals that numerous international locations in South America, together with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, reported bigger cocaine seizures in 2022 than in 2021, nevertheless it doesn’t assign Venezuela the outsize position that the White Home has in latest months.
“The impact of increased cocaine trafficking has been felt in Ecuador in particular, which has seen a wave of lethal violence in recent years linked to both local and transnational crime groups, most notably from Mexico and the Balkan countries,” in response to the report.
Maduro on Monday instructed reporters he “would constitutionally declare a republic in arms” if his nation had been attacked by U.S. forces deployed to the Caribbean.
The press workplace of Venezuela’s authorities didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Trump’s announcement.
The Pentagon didn’t supply any instant touch upon the reported incident.
Garcia Cano reported from Mexico Metropolis.
