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U.S. Southern Command said on social media that the boat was
“engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and that the strike
killed two people and left one survivor. It said it notified the
Coast Guard to launch search and rescue operations for that
person.
A video accompanying the post announcing the latest strike shows
a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames. The
U.S. military has focused lately on seizing sanctioned oil
tankers with connections to Venezuela since the Trump
administration launched an audacious raid to capture Maduro and
bring him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
With the latest military action, there have been 36 known
strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in South American
waters since early September that killed at least 117 people,
according to announcements from the U.S. military and Trump. The
majority of those of strikes have occurred in the Caribbean Sea.
The last reported boat strikes occurred in late December, when
the military said it struck five alleged drug-smuggling boats
over two days, killing a total of eight people while others
jumped overboard. Days later, the Coast Guard suspended its
search.
The U.S. conducted a large-scale operation in Caracas, the
capital of Venezuela, on Jan. 3 that led to the capture of
Maduro and his wife, who were then flown to New York to face
federal drug trafficking charges.
Maduro, before his capture, said the U.S. military operations
were a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. strikes
targeting alleged smugglers are having an enormous impact on
slowing drug trafficking routes in the Caribbean and eastern
Pacific.
“We’ve stopped — virtually stopped almost 100% of all drugs
coming in by water,” Trump said in remarks on Thursday at the
World Economic Forum at Davos.
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