Journalism of Courage
The United States forces struck another boat off the Venezuela coast on Saturday allegedly carrying illegal drugs, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday at a ceremony where thousands of sailors were present to commemorate the US navy’s 250th anniversary.
Trump made the comment while delivering a speech at Naval Station Norfolk, near the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. However, it wasn’t immediately clear if the US president was referring to a strike announced by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday. That strike, which was the fourth such attack in recent days, killed four people, Reuters reported.
During the speech, Trump said, “In recent weeks, the Navy has supported our mission to blow the cartel terrorists the hell out of the water…We did another one last night. Now we just can’t find any. The Republican president added that America would start conducting a probe regarding drug trafficking on land as well.
“They’re not coming in by sea anymore, so now we’ll have to start looking about the land because they’ll be forced to go by land,” Trump said.
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro criticised President Trump over US aggression against his country and said the country counted with diplomatic support.
Without giving any reference to Trump’s latest announcement, Maduro said, “Our people have never and will never be afraid to defend their right to live and be free. We will be ready to face any scenario.” President Maduro said this in a video message on Telegram that was published after Trump made the remarks of the US hitting another Venezuelan boat.
The United Nations last month condemned the US strikes on Venezuelan boats and said that “International law does not allow governments to simply murder alleged drug traffickers.” However, the Trump administration has defended its actions by stating that they are countering “narco-terrorist” members of Tren de Aragua, designated as a foreign terrorist organisation.
(with inputs from Reuters)
