Washington — The U.S. army on Tuesday struck a drug-carrying boat hailing from Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated, as tensions spike between the Trump administration and the Venezuelan authorities.
President Trump introduced the strike in an unrelated Tuesday afternoon Oval Workplace occasion, saying the army had “shot out” the boat “moments in the past.” He stated his group had been briefed on the strike by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees.
The president later stated on Reality Social that 11 individuals had been killed within the strike, which he stated focused members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuela-based organized crime group that the Trump administration has designated as a overseas terrorist group. He posted a video that appeared to indicate a army strike in opposition to a small boat.
“Please let this function discover to anyone even serious about bringing medicine into america of America. BEWARE!” the president wrote on Reality Social.
Rubio posted on X that the army carried out a “deadly strike” within the southern Caribbean Sea. He stated the “drug vessel” had departed Venezuela and “was being operated by a chosen narco-terrorist group.” Rubio later informed reporters he believed the medicine that had been allegedly carried on the boat had been most likely headed towards Trinidad and Tobago or “another nation within the Caribbean.” A senior protection official additionally stated the U.S. had carried out a “precision strike” in opposition to the vessel.
The strike got here after the U.S. confirmed final month that the Navy would increase its presence close to Venezuela, deploying three warships to the waters off the South American nation as a part of an anti-drug cartel mission. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro known as the ships an “extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and completely felony and bloody risk” and deployed army forces to the nation’s shoreline, vowing to defend in opposition to any potential U.S. assault.
The U.S. has not indicated it plans to strike Venezuela’s authorities.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro’s authorities — a longtime U.S. foe — of working with drug cartels and teams like Tren de Aragua to visitors narcotics to america, and of main a Venezuela-based drug group known as Cartel de los Soles. Maduro was charged with narco-terrorism and drug trafficking in U.S. federal court docket in 2020. Final month, Lawyer Common Pam Bondi doubled the reward for Maduro’s arrest to $50 million.
Maduro has denied the allegations. Venezuelan Overseas Minister Yvan Gil known as Bondi’s transfer “pathetic” and a “crude political propaganda operation.”
Mr. Trump directed the army to focus on drug cartels in Latin America final month, CBS Information beforehand reported.
