President Donald Trump has mentioned the US will return two individuals who survived a strike on what he referred to as a “drug-carrying submarine” to their international locations of origin, Ecuador and Colombia.
Writing on social media, Trump mentioned two different individuals had been killed within the US strike on the vessel, which he mentioned US intelligence confirmed was “loaded up with largely Fentanyl, and different unlawful narcotics”.
The assault on Thursday is a minimum of the sixth US strike on ships within the Caribbean Sea in latest weeks. It’s the first time survivors have been reported.
On Saturday night, Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the strike on X, accusing the US of committing “a homicide” and violating the nation’s sovereignty.
“The Colombian boat was adrift and had its misery sign up resulting from an engine failure. We await explanations from the US authorities,” Petro wrote.
He additionally denied the vessel had any ties to drug trafficking.
In an earlier submit, Petro confirmed Colombia had obtained one of many survivors of the assault: “We’re glad that he’s alive and he can be processed in accordance with the legal guidelines.”
At the very least 27 individuals had been killed within the prior 5 boat strikes within the waters off Venezuela, in accordance with figures launched by the US administration.
The 2 survivors had been rescued by a US army helicopter after which shuttled onto a US warship within the Caribbean, unnamed US officers informed US media earlier.
In latest weeks, Trump has ramped up threats towards Venezuela’s management over claims that the nation is sending medicine to the US. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused Trump of making an attempt to make the South American nation “an American colony”.
Trump has defended the continuing boat assaults, saying they’re aimed toward stemming the circulate of medicine from Latin America into the US, however his authorities has not offered proof or particulars in regards to the identities of the vessels or these on board.
“It was my nice honor to destroy a really massive DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating in the direction of america on a well-known narcotrafficking transit route,” Trump mentioned in his Fact Social submit on Saturday.
“The 2 surviving terrorists are being returned to their International locations of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution.”
He added that no US army personnel had been injured within the assault.
On Friday, the US president had mentioned the submarine focusing on the most recent assault was “constructed particularly for the transportation of large quantities of medicine”.
“This was not an harmless group of individuals. I do not know too many individuals who’ve submarines, and that was an assault on a drug-carrying, loaded submarine,” he added.
UN-appointed human rights specialists have described the US strikes as “extrajudicial executions”.
Trump earlier informed reporters that he had authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, and that he was contemplating launching assaults on Venezuelan soil.
Narco-subs have turn out to be a well-liked option to transport medicine as they will go largely undetected, and may be sunk after supply. They’re typically do-it-yourself and constructed utilizing fibreglass and plywood.
The US, in addition to different coastal nations, have beforehand intercepted a few of these subs.