Trump says US struck alleged drug vessel in latest operation
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On the latest strike, President Donald Trump said the Pentagon carried it out on his orders, killing “three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel”.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said on Sept 19 that the United States had attacked a vessel he said was carrying drugs in the US Southern Command’s area of responsibility, the latest US strike in the region.
The latest strike – at least the third against alleged drug vessels – comes amid a large US military build-up in the southern Caribbean. Five F-35 aircraft were seen landing in Puerto Rico on Sept 20 after the Trump administration ordered 10 of the stealth fighters to join the build-up.
In a post on Truth Social on Sept 19, Mr Trump said the Pentagon carried out the strike on his orders, killing “three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel”.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narco-trafficking passage en route to poison Americans.”
The US Southern Command (Southcom) is the US military’s combatant command that encompasses 31 countries through South and Central America and the Caribbean.
Mr Trump did not provide evidence but did post a minute-long aerial video that shows two side-by-side videos of a vessel, one in colour and one in black and white, as it moves through the water. About halfway through, the vessel appears to be struck by at least one projectile and then explodes. The video ends with a single aerial angle of the vessel on fire in the water.
Mr Trump did not say where the vessel departed from or where specifically the strike took place.
In addition to the F-35s, there are at least seven US warships in the region, as well as one nuclear-powered submarine.
The US military carried out a strike earlier this week in the southern Caribbean that targeted an alleged Venezuelan drug cartel vessel heading to the United States.
Unlawful, extrajudicial killings?
The Trump administration has provided scant information about the first two strikes, despite demands from US lawmakers that the government justify the action.
Mr Trump said the first strike, on Sept 2, involved a vessel allegedly carrying members of Venezuelan gang
The Venezuelan government, which says it has deployed tens of thousands of troops to fight drug trafficking and defend the country, has said none of the people killed in the first strike belonged to Tren de Aragua.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly alleged that the US is hoping to drive him from power. Washington in August doubled its reward for information leading to Mr Maduro’s arrest to US$50 million (S$64.2 million), accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups, which Mr Maduro denies.
Earlier in September, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told sailors and marines on a warship off Puerto Rico that they were not deployed to the Caribbean for training, but instead had been sent to the “front lines” of a critical counter-narcotics mission.
The decision to blow up a suspected drug vessel, instead of seizing it and apprehending the crew, is highly unusual.
Under the US Constitution, the power to declare war belongs to Congress, but the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and presidents of both parties have conducted military strikes overseas without congressional approval.
Experts and human rights advocates have questioned the legality of the strikes.
Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch said the strikes against the alleged drug boats were “unlawful extrajudicial killings”.
“US officials cannot summarily kill people they accuse of smuggling drugs,” Ms Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
“The problem of narcotics entering the United States is not an armed conflict, and US officials cannot circumvent their human rights obligations by pretending otherwise,” Ms Yager said. REUTERS
