US-Venezuela tension mounts with strikes on ‘drugboats’

VENEZUELAS President Nicolas Maduro has vowed to resist Washington’s “aggression” after US president Donald Trump said a new US strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat from Venezuela killed three people on Monday.

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Trump’s administration has faced questions over the legality of deadly military strikes on suspected drug boats since the first such attack earlier this month killed 11 people.

The second attack also comes amid spiralling tensions in the Caribbean as a large US naval buildup sparks speculation that Washington may be seeking regime change in Caracas.

Trump posted a video of a boat bobbing in the sea before exploding in a ball of orange flame as he announced the strike on social media, adding that it resulted in “3 male terrorists killed in action”.

“The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (a deadly weapon poisoning Americans!) headed to the US, he said.

The strikes have raised questions about whether they were within international law or effectively amount to extrajuducial killings, but Trump insisted the US was confident that the dead men were traffickers.