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President Donald Trump said Monday that U.S. military forces conducted a second strike against suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers, intensifying tensions between Washington and Caracas as part of a broader campaign against the international narcotics trade.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “This morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility. The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics … The Strike resulted in 3 male terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this Strike.”
The president cast the operation as part of an ongoing mission to shield Americans from illegal drugs.
“Be warned — if you are transporting drugs that can kill Americans, we are hunting you!” he wrote.
The announcement comes during growing controversy between the United States and Venezuela. U.S. officials have long accused President Nicolás Maduro’s government of allowing or supporting drug trafficking networks tied to powerful cartels. Washington argues that those networks destabilize the region and threaten American communities by moving cocaine and other narcotics into the U.S.
Monday’s operation came less than two weeks after a Sept. 2 strike in which U.S. forces destroyed a high-speed vessel that authorities said had departed from Venezuela, leaving 11 people dead. In recent weeks, Washington has expanded its military footprint in the Caribbean, sending in the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group with three ships, along with two guided-missile destroyers, a guided-missile cruiser, a nuclear attack submarine, and a Littoral Combat Ship.
Following the Sept. 2 strike, White House officials described the missions as defensive actions intended to shield Americans from the dangers tied to illegal drug trafficking.
“[W]e have now reached a critical point where we must meet this threat to our citizens and our most vital national interests with United States military force in self-defense,” Trump said in a Sept. 4 letter to Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.