US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that military operations against cartels would continue, setting the stage for a sustained military campaign in Latin America even as basic questions about a deadly strike against a vessel from Venezuela remained unanswered.
“We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships, because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t stop with just this strike,” Hegseth said on Fox News on Wednesday.
“Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated Narco terrorist will face the same fate,” Hegseth said.
“You want to try to traffic drugs? It’s a new day. It’s a different day. And so those 11 drug traffickers are no longer with us, sending a very clear signal that this is an activity the United States is not going to tolerate in our hemisphere,” Hegseth added.
The Pentagon chief said he watched Tuesday’s strike live, but declined to give details on how it was conducted.
“We knew exactly who was in that boat. We knew exactly what they were doing, and we knew exactly who they represented, and that was Tren de Aragua,” Hegseth said, referring to a gang that Washington designated as a terrorist organisation earlier this year.
It is unknown whether the vessel was destroyed using a drone or torpedo or perhaps by some other means.
The US military said it killed 11 people in the strike on a vessel from Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal narcotics, in the first known operation since President Donald Trump’s recent deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean.
Little is known about the strike, including what legal justification for the strike was used, or even what drugs were on board, but Hegseth said operations would continue.
Pentagon itself has not released specifics about the crew and why it chose to kill those on board.
The decision to blow up a suspected drug vessel passing through the Caribbean, instead of seizing the vessel and apprehending its crew, is highly unusual.
The United States has deployed warships in the southern Caribbean in recent weeks, with the aim of following through on a pledge by Trump to crack down on drug cartels.
Seven US warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, are either in the region or expected to be there soon, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines.
Asked about Venezuela’s close relationship with China, Hegseth took aim at Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro.
“The only person that should be worried is Nicolas Maduro, who is … effectively a kingpin of a drug narco state,” Hegseth said.
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