People killed in US boat strike were not Tren de Aragua, says Venezuela minister
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US President Donald Trump shared on social media an image said to show an attack on a boat allegedly carrying illegal narcotics out of Venezuela.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CARACAS – None of the 11 people killed in a US military strike on a boat
The administration of US President Donald Trump has said the boat was transporting illegal narcotics but has provided scant further information about the Sept 2 incident, even amid demands from members of the US Congress for a justification for the action.
“They openly confessed to killing 11 people,” Mr Cabello, who is also the ruling party head, said on state TV.
“We have done our investigations here in our country and there are the families of the disappeared people who want their relatives, and when we asked in the towns, none were from Tren de Aragua, none were drug traffickers,” he added.
“A murder has been committed against a group of citizens using lethal force,” Mr Cabello said, questioning how the US could determine whether drugs were on the boat and why the people were not arrested instead.
After the incident, the Venezuelan government said a video post by Mr Trump on the strike was artificial intelligence.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said early on Sept 11 that his country would deploy military, police and civilian defences at 284 “battlefront” locations across the country, his latest show of military capacity. REUTERS
