11 people killed in US military strike in Caribbean, Trump said – Tren de Aragua was the target
11 people have been killed in a US strike on a ship in the southern Caribbean Sea. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US attacked a drug-carrying ship that had sailed from Venezuela and was being operated by the Tren de Aragua gang.
Terrorists were smuggling illegal drugs
Trump said in a social media post, “This attack was carried out in international waters when terrorists were smuggling illegal drugs towards the United States. No US forces were harmed in this attack. He said that please take this as a warning to those thinking of bringing drugs into the United States.”
Rubio called the campaign a deadly attack
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier on X that the ship was being operated by a “designated narco-terrorist organization”. He described this operation as a “deadly attack”. Rubio spoke about the attack on Tuesday, just before he was set to leave for Mexico and Ecuador, where he is scheduled to hold talks on drug cartels, security, tariffs and other issues. The US recently announced plans to increase its naval strength in the seas near Venezuela to deal with threats posed by Latin American drug cartels.
Venezuela deploys troops to border
The US has so far shown no plans to use these thousands of deployed personnel for a ground offensive. Still, President Nicolas Maduro’s government has deployed troops along Venezuela’s maritime border and the border with Colombia and has called on citizens to join militias. Maduro has claimed the US is building a false drug trafficking narrative against him to try to remove him from power. He and his officials have repeatedly cited a United Nations report that said only 5% of the cocaine produced in Colombia is smuggled through Venezuela. Landlocked Bolivia and sea-locked Colombia are the world’s top cocaine producers.
Drug trade leading to death in South American country
According to the latest World Drug Report of the United Nations, many countries in South America such as Colombia, Ecuador and Peru seized more cocaine in 2022 than in 2021, but the report does not show the role of Venezuela, as has been said by the White House in recent months.
Why is cocaine smuggling increasing
According to the report, “The greatest impact of the increase in cocaine smuggling has been seen in Ecuador, where in recent years there has been an increase in deadly violence linked to local and international crime gangs from Mexico and the Balkan countries.” Venezuelan President Maduro told reporters on Monday, “If my country is attacked by US forces stationed in the Caribbean, I will constitutionally declare the country an ‘armed republic’.”
