President Donald Trump said the US military destroyed an alleged Venezuelan drug ship traveling in international waters on the United States.
Trump said on Monday that three men were killed in the attack on “violent drug trafficking cartels”. He provided no evidence that the boat was carrying drugs.
Shortly before, his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro said that Caracas would defend himself against us “assault”, calling the best diplomat in America Marco Rubio the “Lord of Death and War”.
Tensions between the two countries have intensified after the United States has deployed warships in the South Caribbean on what the officials said they were counter-narcotic operations, making a strike that killed 11 people.
“This morning, on my orders, the American military forces led a second kinetic strike against drug trafficking cartels and extraordinarily violent identified narcoterrorists,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels are a threat to US national security.”
The message also included a video of almost 30 seconds, which seemed to show a ship in an exploding water and then radiant in flames.
Speaking later from the Oval Office, Trump said the United States had recorded evidence and evidence that boats belonged to narco-terrorist groups.
“All you have to do is look at the cargo – it has been splashed throughout the ocean – large bags of cocaine and fentanyl everywhere,” he said. “We recorded them. It was very prudent, because we know you, people, we will be very cautious.”
Trump continued by saying that drug trafficking in the United States has decreased under recent efforts, but admitted that the drugs entered the country on the ground.
“We are telling the cartels right now, we will also stop them,” he said.
Rubio had defended the first attack on a boat on Monday which was carrying drugs from Venezuela, which killed the 11 people on board, saying that Washington had “a 100%loyalty and certainty” that the ship was involved in traffic in the United States.
“What should start is that some of these boats have to explode,” he said during an interview on Fox News. He added that Maduro represented “a direct national security” threat “of the United States because of its alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
Later Monday, Maduro said that relations with the United States had “been destroyed by their bomb threats.”
“We went from a period of battered relationships to completely broken relationships”.
The Venezuelan president said that the government would “fully” exercise “his” legitimate right to defend himself “.
Legal experts previously declared to the BBC that the deadly strike of the first ship in international waters may have raped international human rights and maritime law.
Asked by a journalist on Sunday if the United States “would now begin to strike on Venezuela continental”, Trump replied: “We will see what is happening”.
Addressing the journalists of New Jersey, the president said that Venezuela “sent us their gang members, their drug traffickers and their drugs”.
He said maritime traffic in the South of the Caribbean had considerably reduced “since the first strike”.
Experts raised questions about the legality of the September 2 attack on the alleged drug boat, saying that he may have raped international law.
Venezuela responded by piloting two F-16 fighter planes on an American navy destroyer two days later.
It led Trump to warn that all the Venezuelan jets putting “we in a dangerous situation” would be slaughtered.
After a brief lull, tensions again increased on Saturday when the Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yván Gil, accused the American forces of climbing on a Venezuelan ship.
Gil said the ship he described as a “small and harmless” fishing boat, had been seized “illegally and hostile” for eight hours.
In a statement, the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs allegedly alleged that those who had ordered the crisis “in search of an incident to justify the climbing of war in the Caribbean, in order to change the regime” in Caracas.
The United States and many other nations, including the United Kingdom, have not recognized the re-election of Maduro in July 2024, pointing to evidence collected by the opposition with the help of independent observers showing that his rival, Edmundo González, had won the election with a landslide.
US officials have also accused Maduro of having directed a drug cartel called the Suns cartel and offer a reward of $ 50 million (37 million pounds sterling) for led to his capture.
Maduro denied allegations and accused the United States of an “imperialist decision” to deposit it.
He called on the Venezuelans to enlist in the militia, a force made up of civilians which, in the past, have been used mainly to increase figures during political gatherings and parades.
Public sector workers said they had been pressure to join the militia.
