The US military conducted a lethal strike against an alleged drug vessel originating from Venezuela. President Donald Trump announced that US forces had 'literally shot out a drug-carrying boat' and said 'We took it out.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted that the strike occurred in the southern Caribbean against a vessel that had departed Venezuela and was operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization. It was unclear what type of vessel was targeted or whether the strike occurred within Venezuelan territorial waters. Geoff Ramsey said the location will determine whether the action constitutes drug interdiction or could trigger a major escalation with Venezuela.
Donald Trump trailed the announcement during an address at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, telling reporters the US had just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a drug-carrying boat. And there's more where that came from. We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, the US president added. We took it out, he said of the boat.
It was not immediately clear what kind of vessel had been targeted, or, crucially, if the incident had taken place inside the South American country's territorial waters. Everything is hinging on where this strike took place, said Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow on Venezuela and Colombia from the Atlantic Council's Latin America Centre. If this strike took place in Venezuelan waters, I think that will trigger a massive escalation from the Venezuelan side.
However, from what I've heard this took place in international waters, and that suggests that ultimately this is about drug interdiction. Ramsey added: This is a target-rich environment, after all. There are plenty of go-fast boats transporting cocaine through the southern Caribbean, and I think ultimately Washington is more interested in signalling than in actually engaging in any kind of military action inside Venezuela territory.
Collection
[
|
...
]