President Donald Trump has ordered numerous strikes on boats in the Caribbean which his administration has claimed are packed full of narcotics bound for the US
Unidentified bodies with burn marks on them have washed up on a Trinidad beach after the US fired on boats in the Caribbean as Trump ramps up his battle against ‘narcoterrorists’.
Horrified villagers came across the corpse, finding the face burned and missing limbs as if it had `been blasted apart in an explosion’. Another lifeless body was found on a nearby beach days later with its likeness unrecognisable and one of its legs blown off.
The mystery has gripped the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, which neighbours Venezuela where the US hit boats launching off the coast. US President Donald Trump signed off on striking boats launching from Venezuela, claiming those on board were transporting drugs to the US.
READ MORE: Moment Donald Trump destroys ‘drug-carrying submarine loaded with fentanyl’
Lincoln Baker, 63, an employee with Trinidad’s water and sewage company, told The New York Times: “There’s no question in my mind that these men are casualties of war.” Relatives of other victims named at least two as Chad Johnson and Rishi Samaroo before disputing claims they were involved in drug trafficking.
Despite dozens of people on boats from Colombia and Venezuela have been killed, the US has provided solid evidence those on board the boats were members of drug cartels or that they were smuggling narcotics. Questions have also been raised about the legality of the strikes, including from within Trump’s Republican Party.
Trump has vowed to collapse the free flow of drugs, including fentanyl, into the US and many in his administration have been bullish about launching attacks on cartel members. The president himself, who won support over his call to end American involvement has muted taking more direct action in Venezuela in a bid to pursue his goals.
The Republican leader has reportedly made it clear he wants the country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, removed from power. Fears have mounted the US could deploy B-1 bombers after the aircraft were deployed to international airspace near Venezuela on Thursday before the 10th strike on alleged drug traffickers took place.
Trump said Congress will be informed about any land attacks, but that the US would not be declaring war. He added: “I don’t think we’re necessarily going to ask for a declaration of war.
“I think we’re just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. We’re going to kill them. They’re going to be, like, dead.”
Dramatic video footage, shared on social media, showed the moment Trump destroyed what he claimed was a “very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route.” The President posted on Truth Social saying that the mission wiped out two “narcoterrorists”.
He added: “US Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics.” Survivors from the explosion have since been taken into custody, it has been confirmed. Colombian President Gustavo Petro addressed the incident on Twitter and said: “We are glad he is alive, and he will be prosecuted according to the law.”