Donald Trump orders strike on Venezuelan drug vessel, 11 killed

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that American forces could have intercepted a Venezuelan vessel suspected of carrying illegal drugs, but President Donald Trump instead ordered it destroyed, resulting in the deaths of 11 people.

“Instead of interdicting it, on the President’s orders, we blew it up — and it’ll happen again,” Rubio told reporters in Mexico City on Wednesday (local time), defending what he called an unprecedented escalation. 

The strike, described



by the US as a “precision operation,” occurred Tuesday in the Caribbean Sea. Rubio said traffickers were given no warning because “a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl” posed “an immediate threat to the United States.” “This President is not a talker; he’s a doer; he’s going to do it,” Rubio added.

Trump claimed the vessel’s crew were members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang Washington has designated as a terrorist organisation, and said “massive amounts of drugs” were found on board.