The U.S. attacked another boat, the third this month, alleged to be trafficking drugs, President Donald Trump announced Friday on Truth Social.
“The strike killed 3 male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel, which was in international waters,” the president wrote, in a post that included a video of the airstrike. Trump did not say which terrorist group operated the boat or which country the vessel came from.
The U.S. has conducted airstrikes against two Venezuelan boats in recent weeks, killing a total of 14 people. The White House says the strikes were part of a counter-narcotics campaign, but critics have questioned whether the targeted boats were carrying drugs. Moreover, Venezuela is not a major player in manufacturing or trafficking drugs that kill Americans, though Venezuelan boats do smuggle drugs as well as migrants.
In a show of force against Venezuela, the Trump administration has dramatically increased America’s military footprint in the Caribbean, deploying warships, surveillance planes, fighter jets, and thousands of sailors and marines. It has also put a $50 million bounty on the head of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, whom the White House accuses of drug trafficking.
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