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Rubio warns that the US military will continue operations against drug cartels

2025-09-03 21:43:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday defended the US military's attack on a boat operated by a suspected Venezuelan gang and warned that such attacks "will happen again".

Rubio said that previous US efforts to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States and beyond have not worked.

"They only stop when you blow them up, when you eliminate them," Rubio said during a visit to Mexico, adding that this is just the beginning of a larger US operation in the region.

"The United States blew up the boat and it will happen again. It's probably happening now," Rubio said at a press conference.

"If you're on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl, whatever it is, headed for the United States, then you're an immediate threat to the United States," he said.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump said the military killed 11 people during attacks on September 2 on a Venezuelan boat suspected of carrying illegal narcotics.

This was the first operation carried out since the Trump administration sent warships to the southern Caribbean.

"There's a lot of drugs coming into our country... This drugs came from Venezuela," said Trump, who also released a video he said was of the September 2 attack.

Trump added that the US military had identified the crew members of this boat as members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the US added to its list of terrorist organizations in September.

The American leader repeated accusations that Tren de Aragua is controlled by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, accusations that have been consistently denied by Caracas.

Venezuela's Communications Minister, Freddy Nanez, claimed that the video released by Trump was created with artificial intelligence.

Last month, the US doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest, offering $50 million, after accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups.

Officials in Venezuela have repeatedly said that Tren de Aragua is no longer active in their country after the gang was dismantled during a prison operation in 2023./ REL