(source : ANI) ( Photo Credit : ani)
US Military Sinks Three Venezuelan Drug Boats Linked to Tren de Aragua
President Donald Trump revealed on Tuesday morning that the US military took down three boats suspected of smuggling drugs from Venezuela. He shared this update with reporters on the White House lawn before heading off to a state visit in London.
"We knocked off three boats—actually, not two, but you saw two," Trump said. He pointed out how quiet the waters have been lately, adding, "There aren’t a lot of boats out in the water. I can’t imagine why."
Trump didn’t hold back in his message to Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. He urged Maduro to stop sending the notorious Tren de Aragua gang into the US, halt drug trafficking to American shores, and quit releasing prisoners to cross borders.
This comes after Trump’s September 3 announcement about a US strike on a drug boat tied to the Tren de Aragua cartel. That operation killed 11 people and targeted what the US calls a "narcoterrorist" group.
In a Truth Social post at the time, Trump explained: "Earlier this morning, on my orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility." He described Tren de Aragua as a designated foreign terrorist organization under Maduro’s control, blamed for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and violence across the US and Western Hemisphere.
Trump wrapped up his post with a strong warning: "Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!"
Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed up the details, saying the latest lethal strike happened in the southern Caribbean. It hit a drug vessel that had left Venezuela and was run by the same narco-terrorist group.
Rubio posted on X: "As the President of the US just announced, today the U.S. military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organisation."
For context, the US State Department labeled Tren de Aragua—a gang that started in Venezuela—as a foreign terrorist organization and specially designated global terrorists back in February, according to CNN.
The US has ramped up its military presence in the Caribbean and Latin America to tackle these threats, but this move has drawn sharp criticism from Maduro.
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