By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday he ordered another strike on a small boat he accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela, expanding what the Trump administration has declared is an “armed conflict” with cartels.
In his post, Hegseth said that “our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route.”
It’s the fourth deadly strike in the Caribbean and the latest since revelations that President Donald Trump told lawmakers he was treating drug traffickers as unlawful combatants and military force was required to combat them. The assertion of presidential powers sets the stage for expanded action in Latin America and raises questions about how far the administration will go without sign-off from Congress.
Trump said in a social media post that the boat was “loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE” and implied it was “entering American Territory” while off the coast of Venezuela.
According to Hegseth’s post, the strike Friday morning killed four men, but it offered no details on who they were or what organization they belonged to. The four strikes have claimed the lives of 21 people, according to the Trump administration.
In a post about the very first strike, Trump claimed the vessel was carrying members of the Tren de Aragua cartel. However, posts about all the subsequent strikes, including Friday’s, have not provided any details about what organizations have been targeted.
Trump has designated several Latin American drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, but Pentagon officials could not provide a list of the designated terrorist organizations at the center of the conflict.
The video of the strike posted online showed a small boat moving in open water when it suddenly explodes, with water splashing all around it. As the smoke from the explosion clears, the boat is visible, consumed with flames, floating motionless on the water.
Last month, the U.S. military carried out three other deadly strikes against boats in the Caribbean that the administration accused of ferrying drugs.
With this strike, at least three of these operations have now been carried out on vessels that originated from Venezuela.
Those strikes followed a buildup of U.S. maritime forces in the Caribbean unlike any seen in recent times.
The Navy’s presence in the region — eight warships with over 5,000 sailors and Marines — has been pretty stable for weeks, according to two defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.
Officials in the Pentagon, when asked for more details about the strike, referred The Associated Press back to Hegseth’s post on social media.
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