WASHINGTON:&nbsp;President Donald Trump has declared that the United States is engaged in &quot;armed conflict&quot; with drug cartels, his administration said in a notice sent to Congress after recent strikes on boats off Venezuela. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP on Thursday, is designed as a legal justification for at least three recent strikes in international waters that have killed at least 14 people. Mounting tensions&nbsp;The Trump administration has deployed several military vessels to the Caribbean Sea to counter drug smugglers amid mounting tensions with Venezuela&#39;s leftist President Nicolas Maduro. &quot;The president determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States,&quot; the notice from the Pentagon said. The notice also describes suspected smugglers as &quot;unlawful combatants.&quot; The recent US strikes targeted boats allegedly loaded with drugs off the coast of Venezuela, but legal experts have raised doubts about the legality of Washington&#39;s actions. &lsquo;In line with the law&rsquo;&quot;As we have said many times, the president acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores,&quot; White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told AFP. &quot;He is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans.&quot; A White House official stated that the note was sent to Congress after one of the strikes on September 15, noting that it was legally mandated to do so following any attack involving the US military.&quot;It does not convey any new information,&quot; the official told AFP. &lsquo;An illegal incursion&rsquo;Tensions have mounted over the strikes and the US naval build-up. Venezuela said Thursday it had detected &quot;an illegal incursion&quot; by five US fighter jets flying &quot;75 kilometers from our shores.&quot; Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino denounced the alleged flights as a &quot;provocation&quot; and a &quot;threat to our national security.&quot; A government statement, meanwhile, accused the United States of flouting international law and jeopardizing civil aviation in the Caribbean Sea. Trump last month dispatched 10 F-35 aircraft to Puerto Rico, a US territory in the Caribbean, as part of the biggest military deployment in the area in over three decades. &lsquo;Shot down&rsquo;He also sent eight warships and a nuclear submarine to the region as part of a stated operation to combat drug trafficking across the Caribbean to the United States. After two Venezuelan military planes buzzed an American naval vessel last month, Trump warned Caracas that its jets would be &quot;shot down&quot; if there was any repeat of the incident. Maduro has accused Trump of a covert bid to bring about regime change.

Americas

President Trump has declared the US in “armed conflict” with drug cartels, labeling them terrorist groups. Military strikes near Venezuela sparked legal concerns and heightened tensions, with Venezuela accusing the US of illegal incursions and provocation.

US President Trump declares 'armed conflict' with drug cartels

Caracas: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has declared a state of emergency over the threat of US &quot;aggression&quot; following a spate of deadly US strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Monday. Rodriguez told foreign diplomats that Maduro had signed a decree giving himself &quot;special powers&quot; as head of state to act in matters of defense and security faced with the &quot;external shock.&quot;

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has declared a state of emergency over the threat of US "aggression"

Venezuela's Maduro declares state of emergency over feared US 'aggression': vice-president

BOGOTA: The YouTube account of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro&nbsp;was offline Saturday, with Venezuelan state-run channel Telesur claiming in a message on X that it was &ldquo;eliminated&rdquo; late the previous night without justification.&nbsp;YouTube&rsquo;s parent company Google did not immediately respond to questions on the apparent termination of the Venezuelan president&rsquo;s account. It comes amid rising tensions between Venezuela and the United States over the deployment of American warships and fighter jets in the southern Caribbean.&nbsp;Maduro&rsquo;s YouTube account had more than 200,000 followers before it became unavailable on Friday and was used to publish the Venezuelan president&rsquo;s speeches, as well as clips from his weekly show on Venezuelan state TV.&nbsp;On its website, YouTube states that it eliminates accounts that commit &ldquo;repeated violations of community guidelines,&rdquo; which include publishing misinformation, hate speech, and content that &ldquo;interferes with democratic processes.&rdquo;&nbsp;Maduro has been widely accused of stealing last year&rsquo;s presidential election in Venezuela, which he lost by a landslide according to tally sheets gathered by hundreds of Venezuelan opposition activists. Venezuela&rsquo;s elections agency, which the ruling socialist party controls, never published tally sheets to support its claim that Maduro won the vote.&nbsp;In 2020, Maduro was indicted by a federal court in New York, where he has been charged with conspiring to traffic cocaine to the United States.&nbsp;&nbsp;Recently, the US doubled a bounty payment for Maduro&rsquo;s capture to $50 million, with White House officials often referring to Maduro as a drug cartel leader who must be brought to justice.&nbsp;While Venezuela continues to sell oil to the United States and take deportation flights, relations between the two nations have worsened with the deployment of eight US warships last month to an area of the southern Caribbean near Venezuela&rsquo;s coast.&nbsp;The Trump administration says the ships, which are fitted with long-range missiles and are also transporting a landing force of 2,000 Marines, are on an anti-drug trafficking mission.&nbsp;But Venezuela&rsquo;s government has described the deployment as an attack on the nation&rsquo;s sovereignty and part of an effort to overthrow Maduro&rsquo;s government.&nbsp;The US flotilla has destroyed three speedboats allegedly carrying drugs so far, according to the White House, killing more than a dozen people on board the small vessels.

YouTube account of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was offline Saturday, with Venezuelan state-run channel Telesur claiming in a message on X that it was “eliminated”

Venezuelan president's YouTube account offline as tensions with US escalate

Reuters

ISLAMABAD: The U.S. military launched a second missile strike on a suspected Venezuelan &lsquo;drug trafficking&rsquo; vessel in international waters, escalating tensions with Caracas.&nbsp;The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, has been accused of leading a cocaine cartel.&nbsp;&nbsp;Caracas vowed to defend itself against what it calls U.S. aggression.&nbsp;US military build-upThe Trump administration dramatically increased pressure on Venezuela, deploying over 4,000 troops, warships armed with Tomahawk missiles, an attack submarine, and military aircraft in the southern Caribbean. &nbsp;&nbsp;President Donald Trump confirmed the strike killed three men aboard the boat, which he linked to the Venezuelan cartel Tren de Aragua, allegedly headed by Maduro himself.&nbsp;&nbsp;U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio supported the attacks, saying the strikes caused a significant drop in drug shipments headed to the U.S. &quot;We have 100 percent fidelity and certainty that that boat was involved in that trafficking of those drugs that ultimately were destined to reach the United States of America,&quot; Rubio said.&nbsp;Venezuelan responseThe Venezuelan president, speaking in Caracas, denounced U.S. actions as aggressive and blamed Rubio for the breakdown in communications between the two governments. Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello disputed U.S. claims. He stated the 11 people killed in an earlier strike were not drug trafficking and raised questions about why arrests were not made if drugs were aboard.&nbsp;Maduro said Venezuela had the right to defend itself fully and urged citizens to remain &lsquo;alert&rsquo;.&nbsp;&nbsp;Military posturingVenezuelan fighter jets flew close to the USS Jason Dunham, a move the U.S. Pentagon called &ldquo;highly provocative&rdquo;. While Trump avoided confirming further strikes on the Venezuelan mainland, there are worries that the September 2 strike marked the start of a broader campaign to disrupt &lsquo;narcotics trafficking&rsquo; and possibly remove Maduro from power.&nbsp;&nbsp;

US conducts second strike on Venezuelan vessel, Maduro vows defense

Caracas vowed to defend itself against what it calls U.S. aggression.

Articles tagged with "Venezuela"

US President Trump declares 'armed conflict' with drug cartels

Venezuela's Maduro declares state of emergency over feared US 'aggression': vice-president

Venezuelan president's YouTube account offline as tensions with US escalate

US conducts second strike on Venezuelan vessel, Maduro vows defense