The US military has conducted a number of deadly attacks on boats it claims were linked to Venezuelan-led narcotics smuggling
The US will soon start bombing alleged drug cartel targets on land, US President Donald Trump told reporters in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
This comes amid a massive US military buildup in the Caribbean, which Washington says is aimed at curbing Venezuelan-led drug trafficking. Caracas has denied the accusations, arguing that the US is using them as a pretext to justify invading the resource-rich South American nation.
In recent months, Washington has killed more than 80 people in strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that it claims were smuggling narcotics.
“And we’re going to start doing those strikes on land, too. You know, the land is much easier,” Trump said at the White House. “We’re going to start that very soon.”
Trump: “We’re going to start doing those strikes on land too. You know, the land is much easier…We’re going to start that very soon.” pic.twitter.com/ewRRzRsRff
Asked to elaborate, Trump added that Washington could expand the strikes to any country allegedly smuggling drugs into the US, specifically mentioning Colombia.
“Anybody that’s doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack,” he said.
The US military deployment in the Caribbean waters off Venezuela, which has now reportedly reached upwards of 16,000 personnel, has been accompanied by increasing political pressure on Caracas.
In recent months, Washington has offered a $50 million bounty for information leading to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and greenlit clandestine CIA operations in his country.
Maduro has denied the drug trafficking allegations, accusing the US of “fabricating a new war” and regime-change operation aimed at seizing Venezuela’s vast resource reserves.
