New York [US], October The U.S. military sunk a drug-smuggling vessel overnight in international waters of the Caribbean, killing all six people aboard, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said early Friday.
It was the first nighttime strike against a suspected narcotics ship, and the tenth since September, increasing the total death toll from these U.S. operations to more than 40.
In a social media post, Hegseth said the destroyed boat carried narcotics and transited along a known narco-trafficking route, and belonged to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan-origin cartel formally designated as a terrorist organization by the United States. Hegseth added the strike took place in international waters.
On Oct. 2, the White House informed the U.S. Congress that the United States is engaged in a "non-international armed conflict" with drug cartels designated as terrorist groups, without naming them.
The strikes have drawn sharp criticism from congressional Democrats. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said the U.S. government "offered no credible legal justification, evidence or intelligence" for the strikes.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly condemned Washington's actions as attempts to overthrow his government and expand the U.S. military influence in Latin America. Earlier this month, Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the U.S. government of "murder" for killing drug suspects at sea.
Source: Xinhua
