WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said that he would "look into" claims the military conducted a follow-up strike that killed survivors on a boat in the Caribbean, part of Washington's anti-drug raids that have heightened tensions with Venezuela. The United States is piling pressure on Caracas with a major military buildup in the Caribbean, the terror designation of a presumed drug cartel run by President Nicolas Maduro, and an ominous warning from Trump that Venezuelan airspace is "closed."
In the most recent controversy, The Washington Post reported last week that in an operation in early September, US forces hit a boat after seeing two survivors of an initial strike clinging to the burning vessel. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered troops to kill everyone on board, The Washington Post and CNN both reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the operation. "The order was to kill everybody," one of the sources told the Post.
Trump defended Hegseth, arguing the reports were false. "I'm going to find out about it, but Pete said he did not order the death of those two men," the president told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. When asked if he would have wanted a second attempt to kill the survivors, Trump said: "We'll look into it, but no, I wouldn't have wanted that — not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal."
Hegseth has dismissed the reports as "fake news." Washington says the aim of the military deployment that began in September is to curb drug trafficking in the region, but Caracas insists regime change is the ultimate goal. Trump confirmed on Sunday he had recently spoken with Venezuela's Maduro. "I wouldn't say it went well or badly. It was a phone call," Trump said.
The New York Times reported on Friday that Trump and Maduro had discussed a possible meeting, while The Wall Street Journal said on Saturday that the conversation also included conditions of amnesty if Maduro were to step down. Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin said on Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" talk show that the United States has offered Maduro the chance to leave his country for Russia or elsewhere.
Washington accuses Maduro, the political heir to Venezuela's late leftist leader Hugo Chavez, of heading the "Cartel of the Suns" and has issued a $50 million reward for his capture. But Venezuela and its supporters insist no such organisation even exists. The United States also does not recognise Maduro as the legitimate winner of last year's presidential election. Though Trump has not publicly threatened to use force against Maduro, he said in recent days that efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking "by land" would begin "very soon."
Venezuela says it has requested assistance from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which it is a member, to help "stop this (American) aggression, which is being readied with more and more force." The request came in a letter from Maduro to the group, read by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who is also Venezuela's oil minister, during a virtual meeting of OPEC ministers. Washington "is trying to seize Venezuela's vast oil reserves, the biggest in the world, by using military force," Maduro wrote in the letter. — AFP
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