A MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle prepares to land after a mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson)
President Donald Trump announced on September 2 that the United States military conducted for the first time a “kinetic” strike on a small boat he accused of smuggling drugs out of Venezuela for the Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang.
Trump first revealed that the strike had occurred during an Oval Office news conference. He later posted a statement on the strike on his Truth Social account.
“Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM (Southern Command) area of responsibility,” Trump said in the statement.
SOUTHCOM area of responsibility covers Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. This region includes the landmass of Latin America south of Mexico, the adjacent waters, and the Caribbean Sea, covering roughly over 40 million square kilometers.
In his statement, Trump noted that TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, claiming that it has been operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, the President of Venezuela. He said that the gang was responsible for “mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere.”
“The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike,” Trump said.
“Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE! Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!!” he added.
The U.S. dispatched a large naval force capable of launching long-range strikes and conducting amphibious operations to SOUTHCOM area of responsibility on a supposed counter-cartel mission earlier this month after doubling the reward for the arrest of Maduro to $50 million on drug trafficking charges.
The force includes seven warships, along with a nuclear attack submarine. More than 4,500 US service members, including some 2,200 Marines, are reported to be aboard the ships.
Asked about the strike before departing for Mexico City, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio deferred questions to the Pentagon. However, he said that the drugs on the vessel were likely headed to Trinidad or elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Answering another question on whether Trump would order counter-drug cartel operations on Venezuelan soil, Rubio didn’t deny such an scenario upright.
“We’re going to take on drug cartels wherever they are and wherever they’re operating against the interests of the United States,” he said.
Maduro, a longtime rival of the Trump, pledged on September 1 to “declare a republic in arms” if Venezuela was attacked by the U.S.
Following the U.S. strike, Venezuelan state television aired footage of Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores walking the streets of his childhood neighbourhood..
“In the face of imperialist threats, God (is) with us,” Maduro told supporters.
The Venezuela President went on to warn that the U.S. is “coming for Venezuela’s riches,” including to seize its oil and gas.
“From the neighbourhoods of Caracas … I tell you, there will be peace in Venezuela, with sovereignty,” he said.
Trump’s repeated accusations against Maduro indicate that he wants to use the issue of drug trafficking as a pretext for a wider politically-motivated agenda. A recent Axios report revealed that close advisors to the U.S. The president was not entirely sure whether the naval deployment near Venezuela was a counter-drug cartel operation with undertones of regime change, or a Caracas coup operation masquerading as drug enforcement.
Venezuela has been taking the escalation very seriously, Its military has already announced a “significant” drone deployment as well as naval patrols along the country’s Caribbean coast. A large pro-government militia has also been mobilizing.
The U.S. stands to gain a lot from regime change in Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserve and one of the largest gas reserves.
Still, a direct military action against Venezuela is not guaranteed to produce a regime change. In fact, the use of deadly force by the U.S. against Venezuelans could eventually push many who currently oppose Maduro to his side.
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americans failed to bully china, russia, iran, now they turn to venezuela. amerikunt losers
is it again “war on drugs?” what are drugs? is that a state? anyway t h e b i g g e s t drug trafficker and dealer is usa and theirs diplomats, subservants and stoiges. just how many tons upon tons of cocaine they have smuggled in theirs homeland in those diplomatic loads.
mexico is completely run by drug cartels. israel and the cia supply weapons and intelligence for their cut.
this is because they have found a new victim, because assad is gone. putler should have held him better so he couldn’t fall, because now venezuela and iran wouldn’t be in danger.
don’t forget, the yankees tried to bully the houthies and defeat the taliban and failed.
another great victory for the gringo navy, on a par with midway or leyte gulf. this will probably turn out to be a few campesinos out for a day’s fishing.
putting your navy in the caribbean during hurricane season shows american military genius at work !
what, the magnificent, the fabulous, the great and might orange blob didn’t sink them with a nuclear missile? he missed his chance to use his sub? damn and double damn. trump is such a transparent piece of shit, no one is fooled, except maybe in his mind…where foolishness is the norm. this will be another failure, as all his adventures are. loud mouth, big talk and no brains whatsoever is becoming a u.s. norm. drain here we come.
next they’ll find maduro’s passport floating nearby.
a good one 😂
that’s called murder. what evidence, what trial and what conviction?
let’s just kill people to make a point.
yes, but they are murderers, which have vote for a murderer as fuhrer. the strike are declared a “ai” thing in one comment on sonar21. der fuhrer maybe try to satisfy the working slave cast, which have voted for him. you know, draw first, shot em in the back.
typical immoral americunts behavior
what is particularly interesting is the fact that putler did not count on maduro and the ayatollah on the us destruction list now that assad is gone.
from now on, everything from shipping boats, civil aircrafts, you name it is ‘legitimate target’ for these gangsters. colombia by far the biggest exporter is left alone, not because it doesn’t have oil and coal, it does, but it is unstable country under theirs toxic control.
the us is very busy destroying its own energy supply in this strong arm attempted theft. venezuela can easily refuse to sell or trade with america. many other nations can purchase it through the new banking alliances. this us action appears to act only in desperation. the ukraine / nato war against russia has changed the world forever.
where is proof that those were drug traffickers?! they just executed people with no due process, just the words of known liars saying “they were bad guys”. usa’s zionist regime is a terrorist entity!
as an american i absolutely agree with everything you said red. on a side note this seems to be rather embarrassing for the us navy. it was an unarmed fishing trawler and you had to use stand off weapons to engage it. so the us navy either lacks the balls or the ability to intercept a speed boat. pretty shitty performance considering they have a 300 billion dollar budget.
americans need venezuelan oil for energy security / prosperity. china has a new and more powerful navy that could easily offer tanker escorts to indian tankers for refining. another stupidity / darwin award for us diplomats incoming. lloyds of london propaganda will declare shadow fleet then lose all shipping global positions as londons permanent replacement is eminent
the anglo americans know how to use drugs to wage war. the 2 opium wars : england invaded inda, taken control of opium production, banned the use of opium in uk but promoted it in asia and smuggled it in china in the name of “free trade”. chinese emperor refused to let its people becoming junkies. he banned english boats from chines ports. then england declared war against china to “protect free trade deals and the liberal world order.” fucking hypocrits….
extra judicial execution?
wether the boat was a real drug trafficking one we don’t know. wether it originated in venezuela we don’t know either. what we know is that you just don’t bomb apparent civilians, even if suspected criminals, like that without breaching all legal and humanitarian parameters.
trump gived permission about using military deadly force against venezuela.
maduro should sink an amerikunt shrimp boat coming out of miami.
another fake war to get that oil/resources meanwhile actual cartels are operating on the usa border, they really think people are as dumb as they are (rulers)
that was cold-blooded murder pure and simple.
check out all the exclamation marks trump the moron used… he has the mentality of a 4 year old.
“thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!!” 🤮
aggressors! invaders! murderers!
i am using this phrase for years now to denigrate the army that is “good only in killing civilians” as andrey matyanov is repeating all the time. “it’s an act of murder” larry johnson just said on a you tube live interview and explained the boat was no threat to us military and it could be easily intercepted and searched, “but, it is sick how the us became addicted in killing”.
we need the oil we are just hiding behind drugs.search about venezuela oil and you will know why we are having this hullabaloo from western countries.
but putin is on ground don’t forget soon they will say stop the war(peace now).iran taught us a lesson on how you make western countries stop the war and surrender.