Trump Claims ‘No Boats’ Remain Following US Strikes Near Venezuela

President Donald Trump declared on Sunday that lethal strikes carried out on small boats near the Venezuelan coast, which US officials allege were transporting drugs, have been so effective that “there are no boats” remaining in that part of the Caribbean.

Speaking to a crowd of Navy sailors at the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia, Trump stated: “We’re stopping drugs at a level that nobody’s ever seen. We’re so good at it that there are no boats. In fact, even fishing boats—nobody wants to go into the water anymore. Sorry to tell you that.”

He added with a chuckle: “We just can’t find any.”

According to US officials, at least 21 people have been killed in these strikes so far.

The White House emphasises that the attacks, which have destroyed at least four vessels, are preventing drugs from reaching the United States.

However, Democrats and legal experts have raised questions about the legality of using lethal force in international or foreign waters against individuals who have not been formally intercepted or questioned.

Trump claimed that his anti-drug policy is effective and suggested that military action could extend to land routes: “They’re not coming in by sea anymore, so now we’ll have to start looking about the land, because they’ll be forced to go by land. And let me tell you right now, that’s not going to work out well for them either.”

The President also referred to a recent deadly strike, though the last one publicly announced by the Pentagon occurred on Friday, when officials reported killing four unidentified individuals labelled as “narco-terrorists” aboard a small boat off the coast of Venezuela.

Video footage released by the Pentagon showed an open speedboat suddenly engulfed in smoke and flames, highlighting the intensity of the strike.