Caribbean war begins as US bombed ship with citizens, say Colombians | World | News
He said the navy had supported his mission “to blow the cartel terrorists the hell out of the water. There are no boats in the water any more. You can’t find them.”
It comes as Senate Democrats on Wednesday planned to force a vote under the War Powers Act in an attempt to stop the strikes, as concerns grow over a conflict with Venezuela.
The resolution would block the US army from taking part in hostilities with “any non-state organisation engaged in the promotion, trafficking, and distribution of illegal drugs and other related activities” without congressional authorisation.
“There has been no authorization to use force by Congress in this way,” Senator Adam Schiff of California said. “I feel it is plainly unconstitutional.”
The White House defended the strikes in a memo sent to Congress last week. “The President determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organisations,” according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.
Kentucky’s Republican Senator Rand Paul has also voiced his disapproval of the strikes, stating they should cease.
“Blowing them up without knowing who’s on the boat is a terrible policy,” he declared.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has condemned the strikes and recently lashed out at the US for its “warlike aggression.”
“We see it and feel it, as they murder our countries’ citizens in summary extrajudicial executions,” she said.
Venezualan President Nicolás Maduro has asserted that his nation is prepared to defend itself.
“Venezuela has the right to peace, to sovereignty, to existence, and no empire in this world can take it away,” he proclaimed. “And if it is necessary to move from an unarmed struggle to an armed struggle, this people will do so. Colonialism no more.”
