The US military struck a vessel conducting narco-trafficking in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela, killing six men aboard, said US President Donald Trump on a social media platform. 

 

 

The latest operation has raised the death toll to 27 in a series of US military strikes against suspected drug trafficking vessels near Venezuela since September. According to President Trump, US intelligence had confirmed the vessel was transiting along a known route and associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks.

 

 

Earlier this month, the Trump administration had notified Congress in a memo that the United States is in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels it has designated as terrorist organisations and will treat their members as “unlawful combatants.” However, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly accused the US of invoking cartel threats as a pretext for pursuing regime change and expanding its military presence in Latin America.