The president of the Venezuelan National Assembly denounced the actions as illegal extrajudicial executions, while Parliament will create a special commission to investigate the attacks.
Venezuela announced this Sunday that there are Venezuelan citizens among the fatal victims of to vessels allegedly involved in drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific.
The information was released by the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez, on public television, after having met with family members of Venezuelans “murdered, extrajudicially executed in clearly illegitimate and illegal actions” conducted by the United States.
Since the beginning of September, the United States military has destroyed more than 20 speedboats allegedly involved in drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea, near Venezuela, killing more than 80 people using air strikes.
Jorge Rodriguez also said that, on Monday, Parliament will vote on the creation of a special commission to investigate those attacks and determine how many Venezuelan citizens died, as other nationalities were reported among the victims, namely Colombians and Dominicans.
Last week, United States President Donald Trump warned that the Armed Forces “will very soon begin” to detain “Venezuela drug traffickers” on land, following operations at sea.
And on Saturday, Trump warned that Venezuela’s airspace should be considered “totally closed.”
In the fight against drug cartels, the Trump administration has intensified pressure on Venezuela with a large military deployment in the Caribbean, including the largest aircraft carrier in the world.
Although Washington claims the objective is to reduce drug trafficking, Caracas insists that the real objective is regime change.
