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Donald Trump directed three more attacks aimed at Alleged drug smuggling boatsAt least 14 people were killed, bringing the death toll from the administration’s war on drug cartels to more than 50.
According to the Defense Secretary pete hegsethUS military assets carried out three attacks on four ships in the Pacific Ocean on Monday, marking the least 13 attacks on 14 ships since the beginning of September.
He said at least one person survived the latest attacks.
According to Hegseth, “Our intelligence was aware of four ships that were transiting known drug trafficking routes and carrying narcotics.”
Eight people were killed in the first attack, four more people were killed in the second attack and three more people were killed in the third attack, he said.
According to Hegseth, U.S. military personnel conducted search and rescue operations to recover survivors and Mexican authorities “accepted the case and took responsibility for coordinating the rescue.”
He said, “The department has spent more than two decades protecting other homelands. Now, we are protecting our own homeland.” “These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. We will track them down, we will network them and then, we will hunt them down and kill them.”
Last month, the administration announced that the United States is Formally engaged in “armed conflict” with drug cartels According to a notice to members of Congress, the President has labeled them “unlawful combatants.”
The notice claims the cartels are “non-state armed groups” whose activities “constitute an armed attack against the United States” and that they are now engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” – or a war with a non-state actor.
critic, Including members of Congresshave argued that the Trump administration’s air campaign against alleged smugglers amounts to illegal extrajudicial killings. Lawmakers and civil rights groups are pressing the administration for any evidence or legal reasoning to justify the attacks.
When asked last week why he would not seek permission from Congress for his military campaign targeting the South American regime, claiming they were fueling the drug epidemic in the United States, Trump said his government was “just going to kill people” instead.
“I don’t think we would necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just going to kill people who are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We’re going to kill them,” Trump said during a White House roundtable with administration officials.
“They’ll, like, die, OK,” he said.
While the US military is building up its presence off the Venezuelan coastThe Trump administration is considering possible plans to invade the country, an operation that risks spilling over into a regional war.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Venezuela is not a major cocaine producing country. Virtually all coca crops are inside Bolivia, Peru and Colombia, and the Drug Enforcement Administration under Trump did not mention Venezuela in a March report on the cocaine trafficking situation.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration has sought to link Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to the drug trade as well as the Tren de Aragua gang, despite reports from intelligence agencies that have denied ties between the group and Maduro’s government.
And while the administration continues to describe those killed as “terrorists,” two people who survived the recent attack in the Caribbean They were deported back to their home countries rather than being detained by the United States.
Earlier this month, Trump said he had authorized the CIA to act Covert operation inside VenezuelaClaiming that Maduro’s government “emptied the United States of its prisons” and flooded the country with drugs.
Venezuela claims to have foiled CIA-backed group Allegedly plotting a false flag attack on a US warshipMaduro’s government claims this is an attempt to push the country into “full-scale military confrontation”.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the U.S.S. Gerald R. ford The aircraft carrier – the world’s largest – and its accompanying strike group were moved to a command area It includes Caribbean and South American waters.
According to chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, the “enhanced force presence” of the giant aircraft carrier and her escort ships will “enhance the U.S. ability to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the security and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere.”
“These forces will complement and enhance existing capabilities to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking [transnational criminal organizations]“He said.
Flight-tracking data also showed a B-1B bomber operating in the Caribbean near the Venezuelan coast, which Trump denied.