 "In a first, US strike on boat in Caribbean Sea leaves survivors, says official")
In a first, a US strike on a boat in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday —purportedly carrying drugs— has left survivors, a US official told Reuters.
Since last month, the US military has struck at least six boats off Venezuelan waters in the Caribbean Sea at the orders of President Donald Trump. At least 27 people were killed in previous five strikes. The toll of the sixth strike on Thursday was not known. The strike has not yet been formally announced.
The official did not disclose whether the US military delivered aid to those survivors or took them in custody, possibly as prisoners of war, as per Reuters.
While Trump has claimed that all those killed were Venezuelan drug smugglers, Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said one of the boats struck by the US military was Colombian and was carrying Colombian nationals. In another case, a Trinidadian family has said one of its members was likely killed in another strike.
War on drugs on illegal strikes setting stage for attack on Venezuela?
Trump has said that these strikes target ’narco-terrorists’ but critics have questioned their legality.
For a long time, the norm had been for law enforcement personnel, such as from the Coast Guard, to intercept suspected drug-carrying boats and arrest persons.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHowever, Trump has claimed that he has the power to order their summary execution without checking whether these boats actually carry drugs or without checking identities of people whose killings he is ordering.
Trump’s strikes on purported drug-carrying boats have come at a time when he has ramped up his campaign against Venezuelan ruler Nicolas Maduro. The United States has destroyed up to seven warships, F-35 fighter planes, a nuclear submarine, and around 6,500 troops in the Caribbean Sea around Venezuela, leading to concerns that he could be planning an armed invasion of the country.
Trump has raised the bounty on Maduro’s head to $50 million — double of the bounty that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden once had. He has said that Maduro has been running a narco-state and is waging a war through drugs on the United States. He has also authorised the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela.
Concerns that Trump could be planning to attack Venezuela have been bolstered by the fact that the US Department of Defense has announced that Caribbean Sea operations would no longer be handled by the Southern Command but by a task force led by II Marine Expeditionary Force, a force capable of rapid overseas operations such as an invasion, according to Reuters.
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