U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he is considering launching airstrikes on Venezuelan territory targeting drug cartels, following a series of American raids on boats Washington claims were used to smuggle narcotics from Venezuela to the United States.
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Speaking to reporters at the White House in response to a question about whether he was considering strikes on Venezuelan soil, Trump said, “We are certainly looking at hitting land now, because we control the sea very well.”
He added, “I have allowed this, in fact, for two reasons,” before going on to repeat familiar accusations that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro leads a “narco-terrorist” regime and has released prisoners to send them to the United States.
Trump declined to confirm reports by The New York Times claiming that he secretly authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct covert operations in Venezuela against Maduro’s government.
When asked whether he had authorized the CIA to “neutralize” Maduro, Trump replied, “That’s a ridiculous question. It’s not really a ridiculous question, but wouldn’t it be ridiculous if I answered it?”
In Caracas, Maduro delivered a speech condemning “the coups orchestrated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.”
The Venezuelan president said, “No to war in the Caribbean region (...) no to regime change reminiscent of the failed endless wars in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq (...) no to the coups promoted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.”
On Tuesday, Trump had announced that six people were killed in a new U.S. strike targeting a boat off the coast of Venezuela, which the United States claimed was being used to smuggle drugs into its territory.
This was the fifth such strike announced since early September, a period that has seen heightened tensions between Washington and Caracas.
The five strikes have so far resulted in at least 27 deaths.
The legality of conducting raids in foreign or international waters against suspects who have not been arrested or interrogated remains a subject of debate.
Washington has deployed eight warships and a nuclear-powered submarine in the southern Caribbean, off the Venezuelan coast, in what it says is a mission to combat drug trafficking.
These actions have further fueled tensions with Maduro, who announced military drills to test readiness for responding to disasters or armed conflict.
Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago announced that it is investigating whether two of its citizens were among the six people killed in the U.S. strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat mentioned by Trump on Tuesday.
A police official from Trinidad and Tobago told Agence France-Presse in a phone interview that authorities had received a report from residents of Las Cuevas village (in northern Trinidad) claiming that two local men were aboard the vessel.
He added that security forces are investigating the matter but could not immediately confirm the information. (AFP)
