Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday defended a U.S. strike on a boat operated by an alleged Venezuelan gang and warned that such operations “will happen again.”
Rubio said previous U.S. interdiction efforts in Latin America have not worked in stemming the flow of illicit drugs into the United States and beyond.
“What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them,” Rubio said on a visit to Mexico, adding that it is just the beginning of a larger U.S. operation in the region.
Earlier, President Donald Trump justified the lethal military strike that his administration said was carried out a day earlier against a Venezuelan gang as a necessary effort by the United States to send an unmistakable message to Latin American cartels.
Asked why the military did not instead interdict the vessel and capture those on board, Trump said the operation would cause drug smugglers to think twice about trying to move drugs into the U.S.
“There was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people, and, everybody fully understands that,” Trump said while hosting Polish President Karol Nawrocki at the White House. He added, “Obviously, they won’t be doing it again. And I think a lot of other people won’t be doing it again. When they watch that tape, they’re going to say, ‘Let’s not do this.’"
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