Washington — President Trump announced Monday the U.S. military has carried out a second strike on alleged Venezuelan "narcoterrorists" in international waters.
The president said in a post on Truth Social that the strike killed three "male terrorists" whom he accused of transporting illicit drugs. The post included a video that appeared to show a strike on a boat. He did not specify where the strike took place, except to say it was in the U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility, which covers the Caribbean Sea and South America.
"BE WARNED — IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!" Mr. Trump wrote.
The strike took place on Monday morning, the president said.
The president told reporters Monday that "we have proof" the boat's passengers were transporting drugs.
"All you have to do is look at the cargo that was ... spattered all over the ocean. Big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place," Mr. Trump said.
The attack came two weeks after the president said the military struck another alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean. Mr. Trump said 11 people were killed in that strike. The boat appeared to be turning around when it was hit, CBS News has previously reported.
Mr. Trump said Monday that his administration also plans on "stopping" drug cartels that transport illicit drugs over land "the same way we stopped the boats."
Tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela have ratcheted up in recent weeks, as the Trump administration accuses Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his government of collaborating with gangs and drug cartels — a charge Venezuela has denied. Last month, the Trump administration doubled the reward for Maduro's capture on criminal charges to $50 million.
The U.S. has been building up forces over the past several weeks near the Caribbean, where there are now seven or eight warships, according to defense officials. Several F-35s from the Marine Corps also began arriving in Puerto Rico over the weekend, according to a defense official, part of the 10 F-35s that administration officials said earlier this month would deploy to the region.
The U.S. deployed several naval vessels to the waters off Venezuela starting last month. Maduro's government called the naval deployment an "absolutely criminal and bloody threat" and moved to deploy troops to its coast.
Venezuelan fighter jets flew in the vicinity of a U.S. naval ship twice earlier this month, in what Defense Department officials described to CBS News as a "show of force" and a "game of chicken."
On Saturday, Venezuela accused the U.S. of boarding and seizing a fishing boat for eight hours. The South American country called the move a "direct provocation" and accused the Trump administration of looking for a pretense to oust the Maduro regime. There is no indication that the U.S. is preparing an imminent strike on Venezuelan territory.
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