US destroys another boat in international waters

THE United States military has conducted a second kinetic strike on yet another vessel which its government claims was another drug boat leaving Venezuela.

US President Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post on September 15, at about 3.57 pm, confirmed that the strike resulted in the death of three men. The confirmation came with a warning that the US military is setting its sights on drug cartels.

“If you are transporting drugs that can kill Americans, we are hunting you! The illicit activities by these cartels have wrought devastating consequences on American communities for decades, killing millions of American citizens,” Trump said.

Trump added that on his orders, US military forces in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility, positively identified and struck the vessel.

“The strike occurred while these confirmed narco terrorists from Venezuela were in international waters transporting illegal narcotics, a deadly weapon poisoning Americans, headed to the US,” Trump said in the post.

“These extremely violent drug-trafficking cartels pose a threat to the US national security, foreign policy and vital US interests.”

While responding to questions from the media at the White House, Trump said he had "recorded evidence" that the boat was carrying drugs.

"All you have to do is look at the cargo. It's spattered all over the ocean," he said. "(There are) big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place."

He said now that US military vessels are blowing up boats coming out of Venezuela, there are "hardly any boats anymore." He hinted at similar military action on land to stop drugs from entering the US, but did not specify where this land was.

"There are no drugs coming by sea, but they do come by land. We're telling the cartels right now we are going to be stopping them too. When they come by land we're going to be stopping them the same way we stop the boats."

"You will see that. Maybe by talking about it a little it won't happen."

On September 2, the US government confirmed it had struck an alleged drug boat coming out of Venezuela. That strike took the lives of 11 people which the US government labelled “narco terrorists.”

The September 2 strike was part of the US’ increased naval and military presence in Caribbean waters with eight US vessels in the region being deployed to combat drug trafficking in the region.

On September 10, the US coast guard destroyed a boat headed for the US and seized close to 13,000 pounds of cocaine in three interdiction exercises in the Pacific Ocean.

On September 14, US military personnel boarded a Venezuelan tuna boat with nine fishermen while it was sailing in Venezuelan waters.

In response to the September 2 strike, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar expressed her support for the actions of the US government.