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Washington: US President Donald Trump says he is considering striking land targets in Venezuela after blowing up a series of vessels in international waters, alleged to have been carrying drugs.
According to the New York Times, the CIA has also been authorised to carry out covert operations in Venezuela under a classified Trump directive, marking a sharp escalation in Washington’s efforts to pressure President Nicolás Maduro’s government.
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is “feeling the heat”, Trump said.Credit: AP
Asked about the next steps in his “war” against Venezuelan drug cartels, Trump told reporters in Washington: “I don’t want to tell you exactly, but we are certainly looking at land now because we’ve got the sea very well under control. We’ve had a couple of days where there isn’t a boat to be found.
“A lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea. So you get to see that, but we’re going to stop them by land also.”
Venezuela hit back, accusing Trump of violating international law and the United Nations charter.
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“US manoeuvres seek to legitimise an operation of ‘regime change’ with the ultimate aim of appropriating Venezuelan oil resources”, a government statement said, adding that it planned to raise the issue at the UN Security Council.
Washington yesterday released footage of US forces bombing another alleged drug vessel, killing six people on board, one of half a dozen struck in the past six weeks.“Every boat that we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives,” Trump said.
The Trump administration’s strategy aims to remove Maduro from power, The New York Times said, citing officials familiar with the decision.
When asked if the CIA was authorised to kill Maduro, Trump replied: “I don’t want to answer a question like that … [it’s] not really a ridiculous question, but wouldn’t it be a ridiculous question for me to answer?”
The administration has previously offered $US50 million ($77 million) for information leading to Maduro’s arrest and conviction on drug-trafficking charges.
Trump said he had authorised recent strikes on alleged drug consignments at sea because of the volume of drugs entering the US from Venezuela.
“It is rough, but ... these are people that are killing our population,” Trump told reporters.
Asked about concerns from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress that not enough information was being shared about who was on the boats and the intelligence behind the strikes, the president replied: “They were loaded up with drugs, and that’s the thing that matters.
“When they’re loaded up with drugs, they’re fair game,” he said. “We have much information about each boat that goes out. Deep, strong information.”
Trump has repeatedly accused Venezuela of being a hub for fentanyl trafficking, though US records show most of the potentially deadly drug comes from Mexico.
Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.Credit: Bloomberg
When asked by a reporter why the Coast Guard did not stop suspected drug trafficking boats as the US had in the past, the president said interceptions were “politically correct” and had not worked.
Trump has ordered a large military build-up in the southern Caribbean, with American forces carrying out at least five strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels.
The campaign is the most recent example of Trump’s efforts to use US military power in new, and often legally contentious, ways, from deploying active-duty troops in Los Angeles to carrying out counter-terrorism strikes against drug trafficking suspects.
The Pentagon recently disclosed to Congress that Trump has determined the United States is engaged in “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.
Venezuelan prisoners ‘released into US’
Trump also accused Venezuela of releasing large numbers of prisoners, including people from mental health facilities, into the US, although he did not specify which border they were crossing.
The Trump administration has also provided scant information about the strikes, frustrating members of Congress, including some of his fellow Republicans.
On Wednesday, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the administration was moving the US closer to outright conflict.
“The American people deserve to know if the administration is leading the US into another conflict, putting service members at risk or pursuing a regime-change operation,” she said in a statement.
With Reuters
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