US President Donald Trump announced the destruction by US forces of a vessel with three people on board, which was allegedly used to traffic drugs in international waters.
The head of state wrote in Truth Social that on his order, the Pentagon struck a “vessel associated with a designated terrorist organization used to traffic drugs in the US Southern Command area of responsibility, which includes Central and South America and the Caribbean.“
According to Trump, “intelligence has confirmed that the vessel was illegally transporting drugs and followed a known drug trafficking route to poison Americans“.
“The strike killed three men, including "narco-terrorists who were on board the ship that was in international waters," the US leader added. He released a video of the ship's destruction. Trump assured that no US service members were injured in the strike.
On September 15, the president announced the elimination of three members of a drug cartel, allegedly from Venezuela. According to him, "the strike was carried out in international waters while Venezuelan narco-terrorists were illegally transporting drugs to the United States."
On September 2, Trump said that during an operation in international waters, the US armed forces had eliminated 11 members of a Venezuelan drug cartel. Trump believes that Venezuela is not taking sufficient measures to combat drug trafficking. US authorities have previously designated several drug cartels as terrorist organisations.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said his country faces the most serious threat of a US invasion in 100 years. According to Reuters, on 19 August three US Navy destroyers were sent to the southern Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela "to conduct operations against drug cartels". A nuclear submarine, boats, a missile cruiser, landing ships and 4,500 military personnel have also been deployed to the region.