US strikes second Venezuelan drug boat as tensions mount

President Donald Trump said a US new strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat from Venezuela killed three people Monday, as the South American country's president Nicolas Maduro vowed to resist Washington's "aggression."

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 which killed 11 people.

The fresh attack also comes amid spiraling tensions in the Caribbean as a large US naval build-up 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 U.S," he said.

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

"We have proof," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

"All you have to do is look at the cargo that was, like, it's spattered all over the ocean. Big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place."

Tensions between longtime foes the United States and Venezuela reached new heights in recent weeks after Trump dispatched eight warships to waters near Venezuela to pressure Maduro.

The United States accuses the leftist of heading a cocaine trafficking cartel and recently doubled its bounty for his capture to $50 million. Much of the international community rejected his July 2024 re-election, with the opposition claiming widespread fraud.

- 'Lord of death' -

Maduro hit back on Monday, branding US Secretary of State Marco Rubio the "lord of death and war" over his tough rhetoric on Latin American cartels.

Referring to the US naval build-up and the earlier boat attack, Maduro told reporters that Caracas would "fully" exercise its "legitimate right to defend itself."

Maduro often accuses the United States of attempting regime change in his country.

Speculation has been swirling that the Trump administration could be preparing targeted strikes against Latin American drug cartels, including in Venezuela.

Trump refused to deny it was a possibility on Sunday.

"We'll see what happens," Trump told reporters when asked if strikes on the Venezuelan mainland were possible. "Venezuela is sending us their gang members, their drug dealers and drugs. It's not acceptable."

Earlier this month Washington dramatically upped the ante by blowing up a speedboat with 11 people on board that it claimed was smuggling drugs from Venezuela.

In an interview with Fox News during a visit to Jerusalem on Monday, Rubio defended the attack on the boat traveling in international waters, amid questions over its legality.

"We have 100 percent fidelity and certainty that that boat was involved in that trafficking of those drugs," Rubio said.

- Military build-up -

Maduro said communications with the Trump administration had broken down over the US "aggression," adding his country would "confront it."

He leveled much of the blame at the hawkish Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants to the United States who has been a vehement critic of left-wing authoritarian governments in Latin America.

Although most of the cartels on the terrorism list are Mexican, Washington has focused its attacks on Venezuela.

Maduro said the "bomb threats" had caused a complete collapse in relations between the two countries, which broke off diplomatic ties in 2019.

In the face of the US pressure, he has deployed 25,000 troops to Venezuela's border with Colombia, a transit point on the Latin American drug trafficking route, and along the Caribbean coast.

Thousands of people have also joined a civilian militia intended as backup for the military.

Over the weekend, they thronged training camps where they learned to handle and fire weapons.

"If they (the United States) try to attack the homeland, the entire population will defend it!" said Jenny Rojas, a 54-year-old lawyer who was among the recruits.

US decertifies Colombia as ally in drugs fight

The United States said Monday it has decertified Colombia as an ally in the fight against drugs, a decision that could cost Bogota hundreds of millions of dollars in US military support.

Despite decades of close alliance in the so-called war on drugs, US President Donald Trump slammed his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro for not only failing to curb cocaine production, but overseeing its surge to "all-time records," according to a signed determination the White House sent to Congress on Monday.

"Under President Petro's leadership, coca cultivation and cocaine production have reached record highs while Colombia's government failed to meet even its own vastly reduced coca eradication goals, undermining years of mutually beneficial cooperation between our two countries against narco-terrorists," Trump wrote.

Washington has conducted assessments annually since 1986 on the anti-narcotics efforts of some 20 drug-producing and distributing countries.

In the case of Colombia, the US assistance for anti-narcotics efforts reached some $380 million annually, a figure which is now in jeopardy.

In a meeting with his cabinet, leftist Petro confirmed the change, saying "the United States is decertifying us after dozens of deaths of police officers and soldiers" in the fight against drug cartels and leftist guerrillas funded by drug trafficking.

Since coming to power in 2022, Petro has championed a paradigm shift in the US-led war on drugs, which he considers a failure, to focus on the social problems that fuel drug trafficking.

Since 2022, coca cultivation has increased by about 70 percent, according to Colombian government and United Nations estimates.

To regain the designation, Trump called on Colombia's government to take "more aggressive action to eradicate coca and reduce cocaine production and trafficking."

He also urged them to "hold those producing, trafficking and benefiting from the production of cocaine responsible, including through improved cooperation with the United States to bring the leaders of Colombian criminal organizations to justice."

- 'Failure' by leadership -

The decertification is seen as punishment for the failure by the world's biggest cocaine producer to curb cultivation of coca, the key ingredient in cocaine, and trafficking of the drug to global markets.

It comes amid a major drive by Trump against drug cartels, in which US forces have blown up two suspected Venezuelan drug boats, killing a total of 14 people.

Despite the decertification, US officials praised Colombia's authorities for continuing "to show the skill and courage in confronting terrorist and criminal groups," adding that the US appreciates the South American country's public servants, laying blame squarely with Petro.

"The failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership," Trump wrote, also touching on Venezuela and Bolivia's efforts to curb cocaine trafficking.

The downgrade is a major blow for Colombia, coming as the military and police reel from a string of deadly attacks by the guerrillas.

Washington's disavowal of Petro had been expected since January, when he became embroiled in a blazing row with Trump over migrant deportations.

In Colombia, the military and police are reeling from a string of deadly attacks by guerrilla groups.

On August 21, 12 police officers were killed when breakaway members of the defunct FARC rebel group shot down a police helicopter during a coca eradication operation in the country's northwest.

On the same day, a truck bomb was detonated on a busy street near a military aviation school in the city of Cali, killing six people.