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‘War’ Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. forces have struck another small boat off the coast of Venezuela, claiming it carried drugs.
He said four men were killed, calling them “narco-terrorists,” but gave no details on their identities.
President Trump said the boat carried enough drugs to kill “25 to 50 thousand people” and implied it was entering U.S. waters. This is the fourth strike in the Caribbean since Trump declared cartels to be “unlawful combatants” in what he described as an “armed conflict.”
The move has divided opinion in Washington. Senator Rand Paul called the policy “a terrible” practice, saying only Congress can declare war. Senator Jim Risch defended it, arguing the president has authority as commander in chief.
A White House memo sent to lawmakers claimed the U.S. is in a “non-international armed conflict” with cartels.
Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez called the action “warlike aggression” and said the U.S. was carrying out “extrajudicial executions.” President Nicolás Maduro warned his country would defend its sovereignty if needed. Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the U.S. of “murder” and said the boats carry poor Caribbean youth, not international crime bosses.
There are also concerns that attacking boats in the Caribbean may simply have the effect of diverting drug traffic to the Pacific side.
“What’s going to happen is that, by blocking this Caribbean corridor, drug traffickers will avoid continuing to transport drugs through that route, because it’s more dangerous, and they’ll incur greater losses. They’ll redirect the flow of drugs,” former Ecuadorian Army Intelligence chief Mario Pazmiño told CNN.
Video of the strike showed a small boat exploding in open water. U.S. officials say the Navy has eight warships with 5,000 sailors and Marines stationed in the Caribbean. So far, the four strikes have killed 21 people, but U.S. officials have not named any group tied to the attacks or how their status was determined by US forces.
Sources: CNN, AP, BBC.
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