U.S. President Trump said on the 2nd that the United States will begin launching ground strikes against “drug traffickers” in the Caribbean region.
This is the second time within a week that Trump has made a similar threat.
At a cabinet meeting held at the White House, he said: “We will begin to implement ground strikes. You know, ground strikes are much easier, and we know their routes.”
He pointed out that any country smuggling drugs to the United States may be subject to strikes, and mentioned Venezuela and Colombia.
The crackdown is just beginning
U.S. Secretary of War Hegseth stated that U.S. operations targeting suspected drug trafficking vessels have “only just begun.”
He said: “We are only just beginning to strike drug-trafficking vessels, sending the drug terrorists to the bottom of the sea because they have been poisoning the American people.”
He also defended the second U.S. military strike, saying “ultimately sinking the vessel and eliminating the threat was the right decision.”
U.S. media recently revealed that after the U.S. military launched a missile strike on a “drug trafficking vessel” in the Caribbean Sea on September 2, they continued a second attack on two survivors aboard. The ship eventually sank, causing 11 deaths.
The Washington Post cited sources reporting that the military had received a direct order from Hegseth to “take out everyone on the boat.”
According to figures released by the U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson on the 2nd, since early September, the U.S. military has conducted 21 strikes on alleged “drug trafficking vessels” in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific, resulting in 82 deaths.