The U.S. army says it struck two extra alleged drug-carrying boats on Thursday, bringing the whole loss of life toll from the Trump administration’s monthslong marketing campaign to upwards of 100.
The newest two boats have been touring within the Japanese Pacific alongside “identified narco-trafficking routes,” U.S. Southern Command announced in a post on X. The army mentioned the boats have been operated by designated terrorist organizations. It didn’t title the vessels’ alleged operators, however the Trump administration has labeled a number of Latin American drug cartels as terrorist teams.
Some 5 “male narco-terrorists” have been killed within the two strikes — three in a single boat and two within the different. A complete of 104 folks have been killed for the reason that boat strikes started on Sept. 2.
President Trump has forged the strikes as a part of a wanted crackdown on narcotics trafficking. His administration has legally justified the marketing campaign by arguing the U.S. is engaged in a “non-international armed battle” with drug cartels.
However the strikes are more and more controversial, with Democrats and a few Republicans arguing the army does not have authorized authority to hold out the strikes, and hasn’t offered sufficient proof that the boats have been carrying medication sure for america. Democrats in each chambers of Congress have launched resolutions looking for to curtail the strikes, however they’ve been voted down, most recently by House Republicans on Wednesday.
And in latest weeks, the initial boat attack in early September has drawn renewed consideration resulting from experiences that the army carried out a follow-on strike to kill two survivors.
The strikes are a part of a broader buildup of U.S. army forces within the Caribbean and close to Latin America, with naval vessels and fighter jets deployed to the area in what the Trump administration calls “Operation Southern Spear,” a counter-narcotics mission. Mr. Trump has mentioned he’s contemplating increasing the marketing campaign by ordering strikes on drug targets on land.
The army buildup and the boat strikes have drawn stiff criticism from the governments of Venezuela and Colombia. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — whom the U.S. has accused of collaborating with drug cartels — has accused Mr. Trump of looking for regime change.
