US President Donald Trump has renewed his accusation that Venezuela is sending gang members and drugs to the United States, which he said was “not acceptable”.
Tension has been high between the two countries since the US deployed warships to the Southern Caribbean on what officials said were counter-narcotics operations.
As part of that deployment, the US launched an attack on a boat said to be carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing all 11 people on board.
Asked by a journalist on Sunday whether the US would now “start doing strikes on mainland Venezuela”, Trump answered: “We’ll see what happens.”
Speaking to reporters in New Jersey, the president said Venezuela was “sending us their gang members, their drug dealers and drugs”.
He said that maritime traffic in the Southern Caribbean had reduced significantly “since the first strike”.
Experts raised questions about legality of the 2 September attack on the alleged drug boat, saying that it may have violated international law.
Venezuela responded by flying two F-16 fighter jets over a US Navy destroyer two days later.
That led Trump to warn that any Venezuelan jets putting “us in a dangerous situation” would be shot down.
After a brief lull, tension rose again on Saturday when Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil accused US forces of boarding a Venezuelan vessel.
Gil said the vessel, which he described as “small, harmless” fishing boat, was seized “illegally and hostilely” for eight hours.
Credit: bbc.com
The post Trump accuses Venezuela ‘sending drugs, gang members’ as tensions rise appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle.
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