The Trump administration intends to return survivors of the drug boat sinking to Ecuador and Colombia
The Trump administration plans to return two alleged drug traffickers who survived a recent boat attack by the US military in the Caribbean to Ecuador and Colombia.
President Trump announced Saturday that survivors of Thursday’s U.S. boat raid, which killed two more “drug terrorists,” will be transferred to their home countries “for detention and prosecution.”
It is unclear whether Ecuador and Colombia will prosecute the alleged drug terrorists or release them.
The process of transferring the survivors comes after they were detained on Thursday following the strike and transferred to a naval ship where they received medical treatment.
The four alleged drug traffickers were traveling in a semi-submarine that Trump said was bound for the United States on a “known drug trafficking transit route” and that the vessel contained mostly fentanyl, but also other illicit drugs.
“It was a great honor for me to destroy a very large submarine carrying drugs that was sailing toward the United States via a known drug trafficking transit route,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. “US intelligence has confirmed that this vessel was loaded mostly with fentanyl and other illicit drugs.”
Trump said that no American forces were injured in the operation, and claimed that 25,000 Americans would have died if the submarine had reached the American shore.
“Under my direction, the United States of America will not tolerate narco-terrorists who traffic illegal drugs, by land or sea,” Trump said. “Thank you for your interest in this matter!”
Thursday’s strike appears to be the first since the United States began striking alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea that had survivors. This was the sixth attack since early September.
The first five strikes against alleged drug smuggling vessels off the coast of Venezuela killed 27 people, according to the administration.
The administration has intensified its military presence in the Caribbean and increased pressure on Venezuelan authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro, whom the administration considers an “illegitimate” leader.
A Pentagon official said Thursday that there are about 10,000 American soldiers supporting anti-drug operations in the region.
Trump appeared to confirm on Wednesday that he had authorized the CIA to conduct operations in Venezuela.
The president dropped an F-bomb on Friday during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House, warning Maduro not to enter into conflict with the United States.
Trump told reporters: “He does not want to oppose the United States.”
On Thursday, the same day as the final strike, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced that Rear Adm. Alvin Hulsey, commander of US Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Central and South America, would retire from the Navy on December 12, less than a year after taking his post.
