The United States carried out a lethal military strike in opposition to an alleged drug boat tied to the cartel Tren de Aragua, President Donald Trump mentioned Tuesday.
The US president mentioned 11 individuals had been killed in the strike in “international waters.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the “lethal strike” as happening in the “southern Caribbean” in opposition to “a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela.”
The use of military power in opposition to Latin American drug cartels represents a major escalation by the Trump administration and will have severe implicatons for the area.
“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. TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!” he wrote.
The State Department designated Tren de Aragua, which originated in Venezuela, as a international terrorist group and specifically designated world terrorists in February.
The US has amassed numerous military belongings across the Caribbean and Latin America, drawing the ire of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
NCS has requested the Venezuelan authorities for remark.
In remarks earlier than he departed on a visit to Mexico and Ecuador on Tuesday, Rubio mentioned the “counter-drug mission” would proceed.
“We are going to wage combat against drug cartels that are flooding American streets and killing Americans,” Rubio mentioned. He mentioned the route from Venezuela was a “common” one.
Asked by NCS concerning the authorized authority for militarily concentrating on the cartels, Rubio mentioned, “I’m not going to answer for the White House counsel, suffice it to say that all of those steps were taken in advance.”
“The president has designated these as terrorist organizations, which is what they are,” he mentioned.
Trump on Tuesday afternoon mentioned the US military “just over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug carrying boat.”
“It just happened moments ago, and our great general, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff … he gave us a little bit of a briefing,” Trump mentioned.
“There’s more where that came from,” he mentioned, noting that “a lot of drugs” are “pouring into” the US from Venezuela.
A senior protection official confirmed a “precision strike” in opposition to an alleged drug vessel in the southern Caribbean, however didn’t supply additional particulars concerning the operation.
NCS previously reported that the US military was deploying greater than 4,000 Marines and sailors to the waters round Latin America and the Caribbean as a part of a ramped-up effort to fight drug cartels, in accordance to two US protection officers — a present of power that has given the president a broad vary of military choices ought to he need to goal drug cartels.
The Trump administration has taken an aggressive method to combating Latin American drug cartels, designating lots of them as international terrorist organizations and specifically designated world terrorists.
On Friday, Rubio visited the headquarters of US Southern Command, which has duty for the deployed belongings. The high US diplomat had beforehand recommended that military motion in opposition to the cartels was a risk.
The sturdy military presence in the area has drawn heated remarks from Maduro. The Trump administration has elevated the bounty for the Venezuelan president to $50 million for drug trafficking.
“It is an extravagant threat… absolutely criminal, bloody. They have wanted to move forward with what they call maximum pressure, and in the face of maximum military pressure, we have prepared maximum readiness,” Maduro mentioned Monday, including that he won’t “bow to threats.”
NCS’s Kylie Atwood, Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky, Stefano Pozzebon, Ivonne Valdes Garay, Sol Amaya and Lauren Kent contributed to this report.
This story and headline have been up to date with extra particulars.