President Donald Trump has accused Venezuela of sending the U.S. “gangs, drugs and dealers” in his latest attack on the country.
But Trump dodged questions about whether he would carry out further strikes in the region, after a drone attack on a boat killed 11 alleged “narcoterrorists” earlier this month.
Asked about the possibility of striking the Venezuelan mainland directly and whether he is concerned about escalating tensions with President Nicolás Maduro Trump told journalists: “We’ll see what happens.”
The U.S. has labelled Maduro a “narcoterrorist” and put up a $50m bounty for his arrest.
Speaking to reporters in Morristown, New Jersey, Sunday, Trump added: “Look, Venezuela is sending us their gang members, their drug dealers and drugs. It’s not acceptable.”
The September 2 hit on a suspected drug boat leaving Venezuela marked a sharp intensification in the administration’s crackdown on drug cartels.
Multiple U.S. officials reportedly told CNN the strike was Trump’s opening move in a wider campaign to disrupt narcotics trafficking and potentially force Maduro from power.
Sharing footage of the attack on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump alleged that the shipment was connected to drug cartel Tren de Aragua which he claimed was led by Maduro himself.
The night-vision aerial footage shows a fast-moving boat exploding in a ball of flames after being struck by a missile.
“A lot of drugs are coming out of Venezuela. A lot of Tren de Aragua,” Trump told reporters. “They’re trying to get out, but we’re stopping them successfully at the border in Venezuela.”
However, authorities in Venezuela have said the 11 killed in the attack were not connected to the Tren de Aragua gang.
“They openly confessed to killing 11 people,” Venezuela’s interior minister Diosdado Cabello said on state television. “We have done our investigations here in our country … and when we asked in the towns, none were from Tren de Aragua, none were drug traffickers.
“A murder has been committed against a group of citizens using lethal force,” Cabello added. He also asked why if U.S. forces were able to tell there were drugs on the boat, why those on board were not instead arrested.
The U.S. Department of Defense has deployed more than 4,000 troops, warships armed with Tomahawk missiles, an attack submarine, and various military aircraft to waters around Latin America and the Caribbean, purportedly to combat the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.
Amid ratcheting tensions, Venezuela flew two F-16 jets close to a U.S. Navy destroyer, in a move the Pentagon called “highly provocative”.
Speaking to local newspaper El Nacional, Cabello said Venezuelans should take heed of the deteriorating relationship with the U.S.
“We are not calling for any kind of war, nor do we want war with anyone,” Maduro said. “But our people must be prepared and alert, in every instance, on every front, in every way and form.”
