The US military has destroyed a submarine in the Caribbean that was smuggling drugs, President Donald Trump said on Friday.
The statement came after the US struck at least five surface vessels since September, allegedly operated by cartels based in Venezuela, whose government Trump has accused of aiding “narcoterrorists.”
“We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Just so you understand, this was not an innocent group of people,” he added.
US media reported earlier that, for the first time, the US Navy picked up multiple survivors and detained them on a warship.
Trump confirmed earlier that he had authorized covert CIA operations on Venezuelan soil but declined to say whether their goal is to topple left-wing President Nicolas Maduro. The US imposed sweeping sanctions on the South American country during Trump’s first term in office, and has recently raised the bounty for Maduro’s arrest to $50 million.
Maduro has rejected what he called “CIA-led coups” in the region and called for peace. “Until when will CIA coups d’état continue? Latin America doesn’t want them, doesn’t need them, and repudiates them,” he said on Wednesday, according to El Pais.
The Venezuelan government has denied having ties to cartels and vowed to repel any invasion.
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