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The Reuters news agency conducted initial checks on the video with an AI detection tool but the video was partly blurred, which it said made it impossible to confirm if the video was manipulated. But, it said, verification is an ongoing process, and it would continue to review the footage as more information becomes available.
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.” Source: Supplied / Truth Social
Trump said the strike had been carried out in international waters and alleged the boat was “transporting illegal narcotics”.
Asked by reporters about the proof that the boat was a trafficking vessel, Trump responded that the cargo scattered over the ocean following the strike was proof enough and there had been “big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place”.
Are the strikes legal?
The strikes represent a dramatic escalation in the US’ response to the importation of illegal drugs, as it typically relies on routine policing operations to prevent them from entering the country, rather than deadly force.
“That’s something that could and should be challenged,” Morreo said.
Earlier this month, US forces blew up a boat with 11 people onboard, which Washington claims was operated by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Source: Supplied / Presidency of El Salvador
Following the first strike, Celeste Kmiotek, a staff lawyer from the non-partisan US thinktank the Atlantic Council, said analysing the legality of the attack is complicated and requires sifting through a number of legal frameworks including maritime law, United Nations rules about use of force, international humanitarian law, international human rights law and US domestic laws.
“What gives any state the right to interfere and make these sorts of decisions of life and death? That’s a kind of imperial politics,” he said.
Maduro says US seeking regime change
Hours before Trump’s post on Monday, Maduro said at a press conference that recent incidents between his country and the United States were an “aggression”. He also accused the Trump administration of seeking a pretext for a military operation through the drug trafficking allegations with the intent “to intimidate and seek regime change”.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro branded US secretary of state Marco Rubio the “lord of death and war” on Monday over his tough rhetoric on Latin American cartels. Source: AAP / Ariana Cubillos
After the first strike, Trump played down possible regime change in Venezuela saying: “We’re not talking about that”.
“When they come by land, we’re going to be stopping them the same way we stopped the boats,” Trump said. “But maybe by talking about it a little bit, it won’t happen.”
But Morreo said he believes that while a full-scale invasion of Venezuela is unlikely, he thinks it’s feasible that the US will continue with a “policy of destabilising not only the Venezuelan governments but also other governments and states in the region”.
