(Reuters) -The United States has acknowledged carrying out at least five strikes on vessels near Venezuela that it says were transporting drugs, killing at least 27 people.
A sixth strike targeted a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean on Thursday, and in what is believed to be the first such case, there were survivors among the crew, who were rescued and are being held on a Navy ship, sources told Reuters on Friday.
The U.S. has described some of the victims in the first five strikes as Venezuelans, while Colombian President Gustavo Petro has suggested some were from his country. In Trinidad, family members of one man believed killed in a strike this week have demanded proof he was a drug trafficker.
Venezuela’s government has said the strikes are illegal, amount to murder and are an aggression against the country.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has shored up his security powers and deployed tens of thousands of troops around the country, has also accused Donald Trump of seeking regime change, an allegation the U.S. president has downplayed.
Here is a list of the strikes:
SEPTEMBER 2 – The U.S. military killed 11 people in a strike on a vessel from Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal narcotics, Trump said, in the first known operation since his administration deployed warships to the southern Caribbean. The Venezuelan government later denied any of the 11 were members of the Tren de Aragua gang mentioned by Trump.
SEPTEMBER 15 – Trump said that the U.S. military carried out a strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug cartel vessel heading to the United States. He said three men were killed in the strike, adding that it occurred in international waters. Trump provided no evidence for his assertion that the boat was carrying drugs.
SEPTEMBER 19 – Trump said the United States attacked a vessel carrying drugs, killing three men.
OCTOBER 3 – The United States killed four people in a strike against a vessel allegedly carrying illegal drugs just off the coast of Venezuela, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
OCTOBER 14 – A U.S. strike on a boat off the coast of Venezuela killed six suspected drug traffickers, Trump said.
OCTOBER 16 – The U.S. military carried out a strike against a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean, and in what is believed to be the first such case, there were survivors among the crew, a U.S. official told Reuters.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Julia Symmes-Cobb; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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