Trump said he ordered a strike and the US troops were not harmed. Targeted “transports illegal drugs,” he said.
Trump confirms military strike against alleged drug traffickers in Venezuela
President Donald Trump has confirmed his second US military strike against a suspected drug trafficker in Venezuela.
President Donald Trump has said he has taken his second strike on what the US military described as a “violent drug trafficking cartel” from Venezuela, killing three people in international waters in an ongoing campaign that raised bipartisan concerns about the due process.
Trump said he ordered a strike and the US troops were not harmed. The targeted thing was “illegal drug transport,” Trump said on September 15 in a social media post.
Republican and Democrats questioned the tactics after previous strikes over the drug ship allegations.
“What a sleazy and thoughtless feeling to praise someone for killing without trial,” Sen. Rand Paul wrote online after Vice President J.D. Vance promoted his previous strike.
On September 2, US military killed a suspected member of Tren da Aragua, a drug ship from Venezuela in the southern Caribbean. Democrats wrote a letter to the Trump administration on September 10th asking about the legal basis for the strike.
“We argue that Congress never declared war or approved the use of military force for similar operations in the future,” the letter reads. “Classifying a clear law enforcement mission as anti-terrorism does not grant legal authority to target and kill civilians.”
International law expert Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell of Notre Dame Law School described the latest strike as “illegal killings,” saying it “simply sends a message that compliance with the law is not important to the United States.”
At the White House event on September 15th, Trump said he “recorded evidence and evidence” when providing evidence that individuals targeted in the latest strike were “narcotelorists.”
Trump has issued a warning that there could be more strikes.
“If you’re transporting drugs that can kill Americans, we’re hunting you!” he wrote on social media.
The strike is a milestone in the efforts of the increasingly militarized US counter-drugs in the region. Trump secretly approved military force against drug cartels in early August.
Contributors: Davis Winkey and Josh Meyer
