President Donald Trump said Friday, September 19, that the US military had struck another drug trafficking boat in international waters, killing three people. Unlike after previous attacks in recent weeks, Trump did not say if the strike occurred off of Venezuela, where the US Navy has deployed a small armada to combat drug trafficking. He said only that it occurred in the US Southern Command area of responsibility, which includes Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean.
Without specifying when this new attack happened, Trump said on his platform Truth Social that US intelligence had confirmed the boat was carrying narcotics "along a known narcotrafficking passage en route to poison Americans."
The post included video of a speed boat in the cross hairs of some kind of weapon, then exploding in flames as it is hit by ordnance.
"The strike killed 3 male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel, which was in international waters. No US Forces were harmed in this strike," Trump wrote.
The US military deployment – eight warships and a nuclear-powered submarine to the southern Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela and 10 fighter jets sent to nearby Puerto Rico – has been widely denounced in Latin America, stoking fears that the United States is planning to attack Venezuela.
It has also prompted debate over the legality of the killings, with drug trafficking itself not a capital offense under US law. Washington has also not provided details to back up its claims that the boats targeted have actually been trafficking drugs.
Leftist President Nicolas Maduro has accused the United States of pursuing regime change in his country under the guise of an operation to combat drug trafficking.
Trump previously said the United States had "knocked off" three vessels and killed 14 people as part of its campaign, but his administration has released video of only two attacks. It was not immediately clear if the attack reported by Trump on Friday is the third of those three or a new, fourth one.
Trump has sought to increase pressure on Maduro, whom the United States and much of the international community does not recognize as Venezuela's rightful president after two questioned re-elections.