US military strikes another Venezuelan boat in drug operation, Trump confirms

US President Donald Trump said the military on Monday again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel, hinting that the targeting of cartels could be further expanded.

According to Trump, “The strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in international waters transporting illegal narcotics (a deadly weapon poisoning Americans) headed to the US.”

“These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels pose a threat to national security, foreign policy, and vital US interests,” Trump wrote in a social media post announcing the strike.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office later on Monday, Trump said he had been shown footage of the latest strike by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine.

Asked what proof the US has that the vessel was carrying drugs, Trump replied, “We have proof. All you have to do is look at the cargo that was spattered all over the ocean — big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place.”

He added that US military action targeting alleged drug smugglers at sea could be expanded to land.

Monday's strike was the second by the US military on a boat from Venezuela in two weeks, in what the Trump administration said was a drug-carrying speedboat. At least 11 people were killed in that strike.

According to Trump, the US military has now seen fewer vessels in the Caribbean since carrying out the first strike early this month. But he said the cartels are still smuggling drugs by land.

“We’re telling the cartels right now we’re going to be stopping them, too,” Trump said. “When they come by land we’re going to be stopping them the same way we stopped the boats. ... But maybe by talking about it a little bit, it won’t happen. If it doesn’t happen, that’s good.”

Venezuela’s president lashes out

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro lashed out at the Trump administration, accusing it of using drug trafficking accusations as an excuse for a military operation whose intentions are “to intimidate and seek regime change” in the South American country.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Maduro repudiated what he described as a weekend operation in which 18 US Marines raided a Venezuelan fishing boat in the Caribbean.

“What were they looking for? Tuna? What were they looking for? A kilo of snapper? “Who gave the order in Washington for a missile destroyer to send 18 armed Marines to raid a tuna fishing vessel?” he said.

“They were looking for a military incident. If the tuna fishing boys had any kind of weapons and used weapons while in Venezuelan jurisdiction, it would have been the military incident that the warmongers, extremists who want a war in the Caribbean, are seeking.”

Questions raised about legality of US military action

Meanwhile, concerns have been growing over the legality of the military action to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

Several US senators, Democrats and some Republicans, have questioned the legality of Trump’s action. They view it as a potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California said he’s drafting a war powers resolution aimed at preventing US troops from engaging in further strikes until formally authorised by Congress.

Schiff said he was concerned “these lawless killings are just putting us at risk” and could prompt another country to target US forces without proper justification.

“I don’t want to see us get into some war with Venezuela because the president is just blowing ships willy-nilly out of the water,” Schiff said.

Human rights groups have also raised concerns that the strikes flout international law. The White House has offered scant information about how the operations came together or the legal authorities under which they were carried out.

“Let us be clear — this may be an extrajudicial execution, which is murder,” said Daphne Eviatar, who directs Amnesty International USA’s Security with Human Rights Program. “There is absolutely no legal justification for this military strike.”

The Trump administration has claimed self-defence as a legal justification for the first strike, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing the drug cartels “pose an immediate threat” to the nation.

US officials said the strike early this month targeted Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang designated by Washington as a terrorist organisation, indicating more military strikes on drug targets would be coming as the US looks to “wage war” on cartels.

Trump did not specify whether Tren de Aragua was also the target of Monday’s strike.