The United States War Department announced last night the destruction of a new ship supposedly associated with it and the murder of the three crew members, thus adding 69 people eliminated in these operations in international waters.
The Secretary of War, , announced the attack through his Truth Social account and assured that the boat was trafficking “narcotics in the Caribbean.” There were three people on board who were eliminated, according to the secretary, who added a warning “if they continue trafficking drugs, we will kill them.”
Hegseth accompanied his publication with a black and white video without sound of the attack on the boat, he also highlighted that the attack was ordered by the president, as he has referred to in all past attacks.
With this new attack, there are more than 20 boats destroyed and at least 69 people eliminated, supposedly associated with organized crime, but without knowing details about their identity.
This Thursday, a Democratic initiative in the Senate to restrict Trump’s military campaign in international waters failed by obtaining 49 votes in favor and 51 against; The Republican caucus managed to contain the opposition’s symbolic attempt to reduce the attacks. It was a symbolic initiative, but it raises the temperature in the area, because it leaves the way clear for the operations of the Southern Command in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific, which have been carried out since last August, to continue.
But is it legal?
Despite the sprint in its attacks (there are three in less than a week), the Trump Administration acknowledged yesterday before Congress that, for the moment, a future US attack on Venezuela and affirmed that for now it is not planning incursions into that country, within its military campaign against drug trafficking, North American media reported this Thursday.
The Secretaries of State, , and War, Hegseth, gave details to legislators on Wednesday about the campaign plans, without regretting anything about what happened or giving explanations or evidence. In the meeting, where members of the Department of Justice also participated, they specified that the “execution order” that began the anti-drug operation in international waters in September – near the coasts of Venezuela in the Caribbean and Colombia in the Pacific – does not extend to land targets.
Senior officials did not rule out the possibility of military actions against cartel facilities and leaders within Venezuela in the future, according to witnesses.
Trump has insisted that they are evaluating ground attacks, while intensifying the rhetoric against the Venezuelan president, whom he accuses of “leading a drug trafficking network.”
In October, US media had already reported on an opinion from the Department of Justice to justify possible ground attacks against cartels designated as international terrorist organizations by the Republican Administration.
According to a source familiar with the matter, cited by CNN, the document from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel includes a list of 24 criminal organizations based in Latin America that the Trump Administration would be authorized to attack, although government officials are seeking other opinions that justify future incursions. “What is true today may not be true tomorrow,” the source said, noting that Trump has not yet decided how he will address the situation in Venezuela.
In what specialists consider to be its largest maritime deployment since the first Persian Gulf War (1990-1991), the US maintains in Caribbean waters some eight warships – including six destroyers -, three amphibious ships and a submarine in the area. The operation, which has provoked the rejection of Caracas, Bogotá and allies such as Brazil, Nicaragua and Cuba, also includes the sending of the nuclear aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, the largest and most modern in the US fleet, which this Tuesday passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, on its way to the Caribbean.
