Illustrative image. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson)
The United States military announced on December 16 that it killed eight people in new strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean, amid rising tensions with Venezuela.
In a statement, the U.S. Military Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said that “lethal kinetic strikes” targeted three boats in international waters a day earlier, at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking. A total of eight male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions—three in the first vessel, two in the second and three in the third,” the statement reads.
The strikes brought the number of alleged drug boats hit by SOUTHCOM since the U.S. military began its campaign against drug cartels in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea last September to 25. Including the last casualties, the campaign has so far claimed the lives of at least 95 people, all alleged drug traffickers.
The U.S. has been using its military campaign against drug cartels to pressure Venezuela. Tensions between the two countries began to mount in October, when the administration of President Donald Trump doubled the reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to $50 million on drug trafficking charges.
Since then, the U.S. has deployed a large naval force led by its latest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.
Venezuela repeatedly said that the U.S. military campaign, codenamed “Operation Southern Spear,” is aimed at allowing “external powers to rob Venezuela’s immeasurable oil and gas wealth“, even before U.S. forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week, with President Donald Trump later telling reporters, “I assume we’re going to keep the oil.”
The latest strikes came as the U.S. continued to build up its military presence around Venezuela. On December 15, Trinidad and Tobago announced that it had authorized the U.S. military to use its airports.
The Caribbean island nation is located only 12 kilometers away from Venezuela at its closest point, and has been supportive of the U.S. military buildup in the region.
Trinidad and Tobago said it had given the green light for the U.S. military to use its airports “in the coming weeks”, adding that Washington would use them for “logistical” operations, including “facilitating supply replenishment and routine personnel rotations”.
Responding to this move, Maduro said on the same day that Venezuela would stop supplying gas to Trinidad and Tobago, according to the Venezuelan state television channel Telesur.
While the U.S. is increasing pressure on Venezuela every day, the Trump administration is clearly still hesitant about a military intervention in the country.
Diplomatic engagement between the two sides, which included a phone call between Trump and Maduro, failed to produce a result. Yet, it appears that Washington is simply hoping that its military buildup will end up causing an internal collapse in Caracas. There are still no signs of this.
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yeah, alleged drug boats, course they all just innocent fishermen sailing along the sea for fresh air. no funny business going on below deck what so ever at all. just admire the view. lovely day for it.
belaruse invited maduro to exile himself as their guest.
the penguins invited nuttyyahoo and chumpo to exile themselves as their guests.
below deck? on a skiff? typical us braincell, indicative of trump moronic cultists.
what is typical is the approval of your deceits. lies fabrications and propgandas aimed to produce genocide. allegedly
only a moron would believe you or the moderators voting system displaying his approval clearly.
zuckermamn wants the coke for all his gay employees
is there any creature on god’s earth lower than a joo or an amerikunt. cockroaches and tapeworm are quite noble creatures by comparison.
any old excuse will do for amerikunt thieving.
if you want to bomb things to stop fentanyl, then the best thing to bomb is the (((sackler family.))) (((the same people))) who are behind most of the world’s skulduggery, whether it is thieving, lying, swindling, bribing, blackmailing, pimping and kiddie fiddling.
it’s the type of people who lie and deny the facts and try to deceive the world with spin that are the ones needing to be brought to justice. and as the bible says the one thing god hates above all sins and abominations is the hypocrites. and he tells them that they shall receive ten thousand times in punishment whatever they have dished out.
trinidad and tobago is a puppet regime, not an independent country, and they will have to one day pay for their pro-imperialist treachery!
all of these killings should be meticulously documented and evidence collected for use in future trials of the perpetrators.
all of the crimes of trafficking fentanyl which by law now is classified as acts of terrorism with fentanyl classified legally as a weapon of mass destruction c and those aiding and abetting its distribution therefore now by rule of law terrorists or their accomplices as are those publishing anti semitic propgandas intending to promote acts of terrorism.. all being watched by military laws, not civilian now.
but not one narco sub is known to be hit till now
since 10,000 pounds of cocaine dumped in the ocean has no effect on sea life i suppose it is ok to put leftover antibiotics down the toilet.
shouldn’t the boat be going *toward* n
and not *away from* n ?
maduro must go!!!