WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0said the U.S. military on Monday again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the U.S.,\u201d\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0said in a Truth Social post announcing the strike. \u201cThese extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to U.S. National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
The strike was carried out nearly two weeks after\u00a0another military strike\u00a0on what the Trump administration said was a drug-carrying speedboat from\u00a0Venezuela\u00a0that killed 11.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office later on Monday, Trump said he had been shown footage of the latest strike by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.<\/p>\n
Asked what proof the U.S. has that the vessel was carrying drugs, Trump replied, \u201cWe have proof. All you have to do is look at the cargo that was spattered all over the ocean \u2014 big bags of cocaine and and fentanyl all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has justified the first strike as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.<\/p>\n
But several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, have indicated their dissatisfaction with the administration\u2019s rationale and questioned the legality of the action. They view it as a potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has claimed self-defense as a legal justification for the first strike, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing the drug cartels\u00a0\u201cpose an immediate threat\u201d\u00a0to the nation.<\/p>\n
U.S. officials said the strike early this month targeted Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. And they indicated\u00a0more military strikes on drug targets would be coming as the U.S. looks to \u201cwage war\u201d on cartels.<\/p>\n
Trump did not specify whether Tren de Aragua was also the target of Monday’s strike.<\/p>\n
The Venezuelan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported strike.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has railed specifically against Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro for the scourge of illegal drugs in U.S. communities.<\/p>\n
Maduro during a press conference earlier on Monday lashed out at the U.S. government, accusing the Trump administration of using drug trafficking accusations as an excuse for a military operation whose intentions are \u201cto intimidate and seek regime change\u201d in the South American country.<\/p>\n
Maduro also repudiated what he described as a weekend operation in which 18 Marines raided a Venezuelan fishing boat in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat were they looking for? Tuna? What were they looking for? A kilo of snapper? Who gave the order in Washington for a missile destroyer to send 18 armed Marines to raid a tuna fishing vessel?\u201d he said. \u201cThey were looking for a military incident. If the tuna fishing boys had any kind of weapons and used weapons while in Venezuelan jurisdiction, it would have been the military incident that the warmongers, extremists who want a war in the Caribbean, are seeking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to Fox News earlier Monday, Rubio reiterated that the U.S. doesn\u2019t see Maduro as the rightful leader of Venezuela but as head of a drug cartel. Rubio has consistently\u00a0depicted Venezuela as a vestige\u00a0of communist ideology in the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to have a cartel, operating or masquerading as a government, operating in our own hemisphere,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p>\n
Following the first military strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, America’s chief diplomat said Trump was “going to use the U.S. military and all the elements of American power to target cartels who are targeting America.\u201d<\/p>\n
AP and others have reported that the boat\u00a0had turned around\u00a0and was heading back to shore when it was struck. But Rubio on Monday said he didn\u2019t know if that\u2019s accurate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat needs to start happening is some of these boats need to get blown up,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cWe can\u2019t live in a world where all of a sudden they do a U-turn and so we can\u2019t touch them anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
AP writer Matthew Lee in Jerusalem contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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