Trump announces ‘attack and massacre’ in Caribbean without congressional authorization

US President Donald Trump has announced a ground attack after the US military attacked a suspected drug smuggling ship in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. Al Jazeera reported this information.

Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday (October 23), ‘The US attack on the so-called narco-terrorists does not require a declaration of war and even if Congress is informed about the operation, there will be ground attacks in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.’

He also said, ‘I don’t think we will request a declaration of war. We will only kill the people who are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We will kill them.’

The US president alleged that drugs are now coming by land. The report said that so far since the beginning of September, the US military has attacked at least nine ships in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, where at least 37 people have been killed.

Washington has called the attacks a military operation against “narco-terrorists.” Washington has deployed US Navy ships, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and thousands of troops to the Caribbean as part of its intensified crackdown on so-called Latin American drug cartels.

Washington has also stepped up its rhetoric against the leaders of Venezuela and Colombia. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas and Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Bogota have been charged with drug trafficking.

Venezuela, on the other hand, accuses the US administration of launching an anti-cartel operation as part of a plot to overthrow President Maduro. Maduro said on Wednesday that his armed forces have 5,000 Russian surface-to-air missiles to counter any US military intervention.

Meanwhile, AFP reported that at least one US B-1B bomber flew over the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday. According to flight tracking data, it was the second US airstrike in a week. However, when asked about it, Trump dismissed the report as false.

Earlier last week, US B-52 bombers flew for several hours off the coast of Venezuela. On Thursday, Trump said, "It should be clear to the whole world now that the drug cartels are the ISIL of the Western Hemisphere."