THIS is the second US forces bombed a 3rd Venezuelan drug boat – killing three “narcoterrorists” in a deadly strike.
Donald Trump’s warfare with cartels flared up after he ordered the attack on the vessel, which US intelligence confirmed was trafficking medicine.
Dramatic footage confirmed a small boat rocking round in uneven waters earlier than it was focused by a US missile.
An enormous explosion then erupted, leaving the vessel up in flames.
Trump shared the video on his Fact Social account as he despatched a direct warning to any drug traffickers.
He mentioned the strike occurred in worldwide waters.
“On my Orders, the Secretary of Warfare ordered a deadly kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Group conducting narcotrafficking within the USSOUTHCOM space of accountability,” Trump mentioned.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting alongside a recognized narcotrafficking passage en path to poison Individuals,” he wrote.
“No U.S. Forces had been harmed on this strike. STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA, AND COMMITTING VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICANS!!!”
The US Southern Command’s space of accountability covers most of South America and the Caribbean.
It comes simply days after US forces struck two other boats allegedly from Venezuela.
A complete of 14 folks had been killed within the assault, which Trump mentioned was towards drug traffickers.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has condemned the strikes and mentioned his nation will defend itself towards US “aggression”.
Trump and Maduro are locked in a bitter worldwide feud after weeks of heated back-and-forth.
President Trump accused his Venezuelan counterpart of being complicit in “mass homicide, drug trafficking, intercourse trafficking, and acts of violence and terror throughout the United States and Western Hemisphere”
He additionally slapped a $50million bounty on Maduro supplied by Washington.
Maduro responded by saying he won’t ever let Trump get away along with his “threats of bombs, loss of life, and blackmail”.
He additionally introduced he’s mobilising his nation’s navy – claiming to have 2.5 million navy personnel deployed to defend Venezuela.
President Maduro claimed: “Everybody is aware of that the story of medicine and drug trafficking is a plot.
“That is the argument. They need regime change to grab the nation’s wealth, to manage the nation’s oil reserves.”
Round 78,000 Individuals died of drug overdoses between March 2024 to March 2025, based on provisional information from the Centres for Illness Management and Prevention.
Trump has all the time claimed the determine is probably going a lot increased and has vowed to stop as many drug-related deaths as potential throughout his second time period.
Trump’s warfare on medicine?
by Harvey Geh, International Information Reporter
DONALD Trump has launched his full-scale warfare on medicine – favouring missiles over legislation enforcement.
The primary day of Trump’s second time period kicked off with the designation of narcotraffickers as terrorists – giving him the proper to kill them earlier than they’ll attain American shores.
That is the argument he has used within the face of legislation specialists warning that his determination to strike a suspected drug-smuggling boat on Tuesday was unlawful.
Washington-watchers declare that the gangsters ought to have been arrested – however the White Home says that legislation enforcement is ineffective.
Trump vowed after the blitz: “There’s extra the place that got here from.”
The US President has lengthy spoken of his want to enact pressure to tackle drug cartels, which he accuses Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of actively backing.
Maduro has denied the allegations, and the previous couple of months have seen teetering escalations deteriorate right into a tense standoff.
The US has positioned naval destroyers and troopers round Maduro’s waters, whereas the Venezuelan dictator has ordered mass mobilisation of troops.