US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States had struck another vessel suspected of carrying illegal drugs off the coast of Venezuela, the fifth such attack in recent weeks, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The strikes are the latest example of President Trump's efforts to use US military power in new and often legally controversial ways, such as deploying US troops to Los Angeles or designating suspected drug traffickers as terrorists, the agency said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strike was carried out in international waters and that all those killed were men. He said the vessel was transporting "significant quantities of drugs destined for America to poison our people." Hegseth added, without providing evidence, that intelligence "has confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt" that the vessel was transporting drugs and that the people on board were "narco-terrorists." He did not disclose the amount or type of drugs suspected.
In the past, counternarcotics operations have typically been conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard, the primary U.S. maritime law enforcement agency, rather than the U.S. military, Reuters reported. But early last week, the Pentagon sent a document to Congress informing the legislature that Trump had determined that the United States was engaged in a "non-international armed conflict" against drug cartels. The document was intended to explain the Trump administration's legal justification for deploying US military forces in the Caribbean Sea.
Tensions in the region have recently increased due to the strikes and the build-up of US naval forces, Le Monde reported. Venezuela said on Thursday it had detected an "illegal incursion" by five US fighter jets flying "75 kilometres from our coasts". Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino condemned the alleged flights near Venezuela, calling them a "provocation" and a "threat to our national security".
Last month, Trump sent 10 F-35 jets to Puerto Rico, a US territory in the Caribbean, as part of the largest deployment of military forces to the region in more than three decades, the newspaper reported. He also sent eight warships and a nuclear submarine to the region as part of an announced operation to combat drug trafficking through the Caribbean to the United States.
After two Venezuelan military aircraft flew over a US warship last month, Trump warned Caracas that its planes would be "shot down" if the incident happened again, Le Monde reported. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused Trump of secretly taking steps to attempt regime change.
Military analysts believe that the US forces massed in the region are too numerous and their composition is unsuitable for combating drug trafficking, but on the other hand they are sufficient to seize and hold key strategic sites such as ports and airports on Venezuelan territory, the Washington Examiner reported. If the US were to establish control over these sites, this would allow for a broader and more sustained penetration of US military power into Venezuela from well-fortified positions, the publication notes.
The Pentagon does not hide that it is intensively preparing for such operations, the American metropolitan newspaper commented. He cited a statement from the US Department of Defense from late August, which noted that during an exercise off the US Virgin Islands, “six Air Force Special Forces soldiers parachuted into the Caribbean Sea along with an inflatable boat 3 miles offshore... Eleven other soldiers jumped from the same plane directly over [the airport], and the two elements together established control of the airport“.
Operations to establish control of facilities would put enormous pressure on the Maduro regime, which is the main focus of the US military deployment in the Caribbean, the “Washington Examiner“ notes. The military buildup may simply be aimed at intimidating Maduro, but he rightly fears that more direct action is coming, the newspaper said.
President Trump has already hinted that the scope of the operations could be expanded, and late last month told reporters that the United States was now considering attacking the cartels "by land," the Latin Times reported.
Venezuela has declared a state of emergency, mobilizing its armed forces and authorizing extraordinary measures to protect strategic sites and institutions amid heightened tensions, Newsweek magazine reported. Maduro called for national mobilization and said the country's sovereignty may need to be defended from external aggression.
Both the United States and Venezuela are on high alert, and amid heightened rhetoric, the risk of miscalculation or sudden confrontation has increased significantly, Newsweek warned.