The United States has again attacked a ship, which was allegedly loaded with drugs, and according to President Donald Trump, three people from Venezuela killed. The victims are “three male terrorists” who were on their way to the USA and were met in international waters, the Republican wrote on his Truth Social.
With the article, the US President also shared a 27 second video that shows how a boat is attacked. The attack took place in the morning on his command, Trump wrote. US forces were not violated.
“These extremely violent drug cartels are a threat to national security, foreign policy and essential interests of the United States,” emphasized the US President – and added a threat completely written in capital letters: “Be warned – if you can transport drugs that can kill Americans, we will hunt them!” Illegal activities of this cartels had cost life for the United States and millions of Americans for decades. So it is over.
Second blow within two weeks
It is already the second attack of this kind. At the beginning of September, the US military had killed eleven people in a blow to a ship in the Caribbean. In this case too, Trump wrote that the boat should have been brought to the USA from Venezuela. The US State Department, on the other hand, initially said that the drug delivery was probably on the way to Trinidad and Tobago or to another Caribbean country.
It was also unclear what a legal basis the United States acted – this question also arises now.
Unlike the US attack about two weeks ago, Trump did not specifically mentioned the Venezuelan drug gang tren de Aragua. His government classifies the group as a foreign terrorist organization. The most powerful gang of Venezuela is involved in drug smuggling, protection, illegal mining and the smuggling of migrants. Finally, the Tren de Aragua also expanded its zone of influence to other countries in Latin America and the USA.
Already in the election campaign Trump had repeatedly talked about the Tren de Aragua and, for example, claimed that the Gang would control entire residential complexes in the US state of Colorado. Local politicians rejected this representation.
Tense situation between the USA and Venezuela
The conflict between Venezuela and the United States had recently intensified. According to media reports, the United States transferred several warships to the Venezuelan Caribbean coast in order to intercept drug smugglers there. In addition, the US government doubled the reward for information that leads to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to up to $ 50 million (around $ 43 million).
The US judiciary accuses the authoritarian head of state of being involved in international drug deals. For his part, Maduro accused the US government of actually targeting the mineral resources of the South American country. He described the US military presence in the Caribbean as the “biggest threat” in a century. In the event of an attack by the United States, he threatened with armed resistance.
