President Donald Trump has said United States attacks on alleged ‘narco-terrorists’ do not need a declaration of war, and while Congress will be briefed on operations, the recent spate of bombings of vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean will be followed by strikes on land.
“Well, I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
“I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. OK? We’re going to kill them,” Trump said.
“Now they [drugs] are coming in by land … you know, the land is going to be next,” the US president added, echoing similar threats he has made in recent weeks to extend his administration’s attacks to the territories of countries Washington accuses of enabling drug cartels to smuggle narcotics to the US.
So far, the US military has carried out attacks on at least nine vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific since early September, killing at least 37 people in what Washington has branded a military operation against “narco-terrorists” – without providing any evidence to support its allegations of criminality.
Washington’s intensifying operation against so-called Latin American drug cartels has seen the deployment of US naval ships, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and thousands of troops to the Caribbean region.
The US has also escalated rhetoric against the leaders of Venezuela and Colombia, accusing President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas and Gustavo Petro in Bogota of involvement in drug trafficking.
Venezuela has accused the US of launching its anti-cartel campaign as part of a plot to overthrow President Maduro, who said on Wednesday that his armed forces have 5,000 Russian surface-to-air missiles to counter any US military intervention in his country.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has warned the US against any military attacks on his country as US forces deploy in waters off Venezuela’s coast [File: Jesus Vargas/AP Photo]
The AFP news agency reported that at least one US B-1B bomber flew over the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday, according to flight tracking data, the second such show of airpower by the US in a week.
Data from tracking website Flightradar24 showed a B-1B bomber flying towards the Venezuelan coast on Wednesday afternoon before making a U-turn and heading north, after which it disappeared from view.
Asked during a White House event about the reported B-1Bs near Venezuela, Trump responded that “it’s false”, before adding that the US is “not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons”.
Last week, US-based B-52 bombers circled off Venezuela’s coast for several hours, with the military describing the mission as a demonstration of Washington’s commitment “to proactively deter adversary threats, enhance crew training, and ensure the global force readiness necessary to respond to any contingency or challenge.”
‘All international law is broken’
Trump also said on Thursday that “it should now be clear to the entire world” that drug cartels – several of which the US has designated as “foreign terrorist organisations” – are the “ISIS [ISIL] of the Western Hemisphere”.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also drew comparisons between the US’s so-called “war on terror” and Trump’s growing operations against Latin American drug gangs.
“Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people,” Hegseth said in a post on social media on Wednesday, adding, “There will be no refuge or forgiveness – only justice.”
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum and Colombia’s president are among a chorus of voices criticising Washington’s attacks on vessels in international waters – suspected of smuggling drugs – as a contravention of international law.
“Obviously, we do not agree. There are international laws governing how operations must be carried out when facing alleged illegal drug or weapons transportation in international waters. We have made this clear to the government of the United States,” Sheinbaum said on Thursday.
Colombia’s Petro, who has engaged in a public war of words with Trump since being labelled a drug trafficker “thug” by the US president, said on Thursday that the US was “carrying out extrajudicial executions” that “violate international law”.
“Amnesty International opposes missile bombings in the Caribbean. All international law is broken in the Caribbean,” Petro said in a post on social media above a news report on Trump’s attacks on vessels in the Caribbean, and which has now expanded to the Pacific.
