The senior National Security officials of the United States said on Wednesday that military operations against the posters would continue, preparing the scenario for a military campaign sustained in Latin America, even when the basic questions about a deadly strike against a ship in Venezuela remained unanswered.
The United States Army killed 11 people on Tuesday in a strike in a ship in Venezuela, supposedly transporting illegal narcotics, in the first operation known since the recent deployment of warships of President Donald Trump to the South Caribbean.
Little is known about the strike, including legal justification or what drugs were on board, but the Secretary of Defense of the United States, Pete Hegseth, said the operations would continue.
“We have air assets, water active, active in the ships, because this is a serious mission for us, and will not stop only with this strike,” Hegseth said in Fox & Friends.
“Any other person who tries into those waters who knows that he is a designated narco terrorist will face the same destination,” Hegseth said.
He refused to provide details about how the operation was carried out, saying that they were classified. It is unknown if the boat was destroyed using a drone, torpedo or by other means.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Mexico City, said they will occur again.
“Maybe it’s happening at this time, I don’t know, but the point is that the president of the United States will make war to narco terrorist organizations,” said Rubio.
Trump said Tuesday, without providing evidence, that the United States Army had identified the ship’s crew as members of the Venezuelan Train of Aragua, that Washington designated a terrorist group in February.
On Wednesday, he told the Oval office journalists that “large amounts of drugs” were found in the boat.
“We have tapes talking,” Trump said. “It was a lot of drugs that came to our country to kill many people. And everyone understands it. In fact, you see it, you see drug bags throughout the boat,” Trump said.
The Pentagon has not published details about the crew or why he decided to kill them on board.
The presidents of both main US parties have affirmed in the past the authority to use the military for limited attacks when there is a threat to the United States, as Trump did in June when he ordered an attack against Iran.
Rubio said that “a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl” was an immediate threat to the United States, adding that Trump had the right to “eliminate () in demanding circumstances.”
Mary Ellen O’Connell, an expert in international law and the use of force at the University of Notre Dame, said that Tuesday’s operation “violated the fundamental principles of international law.”
“The alleged fact that the attack was on the high seas is irrelevant. The relevant thing is that the United States had no right to intentionally kill these suspects,” he said.
Maduro “should be worried”
The decision to fly an alleged drug container that passes through the Caribbean, instead of taking advantage of the boat and stopping its crew, is very unusual and evokes memories of the struggle of the United States against militant groups such as Al Qaeda.
The United States has deployed warships in the South Caribbean in recent weeks, to follow a Trump promise to take energetic measures against drug cartels.
Seven American warships and a quick attack submarine with nuclear energy are in the region or they are expected to be there soon, with more than 4,500 sailors and marines. The American marines and sailors of the 22nd Marina Expeditionary Unit have carried out training and flight operations amphibians in southern Puerto Rico.
When asked about Venezuela’s close relationship with China, Hegseth addressed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
“The only person who should be worried is Nicolas Maduro, who is … effectively a nupt from a state of drug traffickers,” said Hegseth.
Last month, the Trump administration doubled the reward for the information that led to Maduro’s arrest to $ 50 million, accusing it of ties with drug trafficking and criminal groups.
Venezuelan officials have said that the accumulation of the Caribbean is destined to justify an intervention against them, and Maduro accuses Trump of looking for “regime change.”
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, the Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado supported the United States strike, saying that the operation was “aimed at saving lives” in Venezuela and the United States.
“We have to be grateful that the president of the United States, Donald Trump and his administration recognize and act towards Maduro as what he is: the head of a terrorist narco regime that has been responsible for destroying our country, destabilizing the region and becoming a real threat to the security of the United States,” Machado said. He was forbidden to run in the presidential elections of 2024, but it is the most popular opposition figure in the country.
The authorities in the South American country, who say that Train de Aragua is no longer active there after being dismantled during a prison raid in 2023, suggested on Tuesday that the footage shared by Trump of a quick boat in the sea and then the burning was created with artificial intelligence.
Reuters made initial verifications in the video, including a review of its visual elements using a manipulation detection tool that did not show evidence of manipulation. However, the thorough verification is a continuous process, and Reuters will continue to review the images as there is more information available.
The strike extracted skepticism from some within the Venezuelan opposition.
“How did they know there were 11 people? The former presidential candidate of the opposition Henrique Capriles told Reuters.
