President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the US had departed from Venezuela and struck in the Southern Caribbean against a drug carrier run by a gang in Tren de Aragua.
In a social media post, Trump said 11 people were killed in a rare US military operation in the Americas. He said this is a dramatic escalation in the Republican administration’s efforts to stem the flow of drugs from Latin America. Trump also posted a short video clip of the small ship that appears to explode in flames.
The operation comes after the US announced last month plans to increase its maritime troops in waters off the coast of Venezuela to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels.
President Nicolas Maduro’s government responded by deploying troops along the Venezuelan coast and the border with neighboring Colombia, as well as by urging Venezuelans to join the militia.
Maduro claims that the US is building a false drug trafficking narrative in order to get him out of his profession. He told reporters that if his country is attacked by US troops deployed in the Caribbean, he “proclaims the Republic with weapons in the Constitution.”