00:00The Trump administration is facing questions following an airstrike against a purported drug trafficking boat off the coast of Venezuela on Tuesday.
00:08Donald Trump said the so-called kinetic strike killed 11 people who were part of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua and Arco gang.
00:17But there are questions over what legal authority the administration had to carry out the strike, which would normally have to be approved by Congress.
00:24Venezuela, for its part, has accused Washington of planning regime change in Caracas after it amassed seven warships and one submarine in waters around Venezuela.
00:35And for more on this, I can welcome Colin Harding, journalist and consultant on Latin America and the Caribbean and former Latin American editor of The Independent.
00:44Good morning, Colin. This action by the Trump administration was highly unusual.
00:49Yes, that's the least that can be said about it. Normally, these are international cooperation operations.
00:58I was on board a British warship a few years ago doing anti-drug operations in the Caribbean, and that was done in conjunction with the U.S. Coast Guard.
01:09What happened was when a suspicious boat was identified, the U.S. Coast Guards were sent out in a small boat to intercept the vessel to establish who the people were,
01:22what was on board, and if necessary, to detain them and to confiscate their cargo.
01:29So that didn't happen at all in this case, as far as we know, because we don't know how the U.S. government established this was a boat operated by the Trenadera Agua,
01:42that there were drugs on board and that it was heading towards the United States.
01:45Maybe they did do some intelligence work, but we don't know.
01:52It was just announced that they'd taken this boat out, which is highly unusual.
01:59Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the fact that Donald Trump declared Trenadera Agua narco-terrorists
02:06gives the administration the right to carry out this strike, but under U.S. law, this actually has to be approved by Congress.
02:18Will they find themselves in a sticky situation here at the Trump administration?
02:23Well, they are having to answer questions.
02:25I mean, the president is designated as the commander in chief of the armed forces, and he can, in some circumstances, order a strike.
02:34But it's not clear he can orbit something in international waters in peacetime.
02:39So, yes, I think this one will run and run.
02:41I mean, they do have to, just to say that these were terrorists and they've been designated as such,
02:48and therefore are legitimate military targets.
02:50So, I think there are questions whether this contravenes international humanitarian law
02:55and, of course, the international law of the sea.
02:58Washington says that Venezuela is controlling drug gangs, including Trenadera Agua,
03:03and also the purported Cartel de los Soles, which is not actually a group that possibly only exists in the minds of journalists.
03:12Are these credible accusations by the Trump administration?
03:16Well, both the Trenadera Agua and the Cartel de los Soles exist,
03:23but not as tightly controlled or centralized organization run by one man, the president of the country.
03:29They are sort of diffuse networks.
03:32And the Trenadera Agua, I mean, Insight Crime, which is an organization which investigates these things,
03:37has established that Trenadera Agua's importance and strength, for instance, in the United States,
03:43has been greatly exaggerated, and it's not an international drug trafficking organization,
03:49which is what the Americans claim.
03:52So, they do exist, and there is a lot of drug trafficking going on in Venezuela and from Venezuela,
04:00but not these tightly organized and controlled groups,
04:05which the U.S. government says are run by the president and his close associates.
04:12Now, Nicolas Maduro says that Washington is planning regime change in Caracas
04:17after this positioning of seven warships and one submarine in waters off its coast.
04:25Does the Venezuelan president have a point?
04:27Well, the Americans certainly want him to think that,
04:35and he called a very unusual international press conference the other day,
04:41or media conference, and he looked pretty rattled.
04:45I mean, the suggestion that they might try to take him out in some way,
04:50either by kidnapping him or somebody else, that there might be a drone strike.
04:54This idea is floating around, and certainly American government sources have suggested
05:00that he ought to be very worried indeed.
05:03So, the pressure on him is clearly being stepped up,
05:06but of course he's using the supposed threat to rally support for himself
05:11and mobilizing this citizen militia, which he claims has more than 4 million members.
05:16So, he's saying this is a threat to the whole of Latin America
05:21and hopes that other Latin American countries will come to his support.
05:25And Colombia, and to some extent Brazil already have other countries,
05:30have supported the Americans, notably the close neighbors, Guyana and Trinidad.
05:36Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Mexico yesterday,
05:40and he actually praised Mexico for its cooperation on drug trafficking.
05:46The vast majority of drugs that are smuggled to the United States come via the Pacific,
05:54i.e. mainly via Mexico.
05:57Why this focus on the Caribbean all of a sudden?
05:59Well, I think to put pressure on Venezuela is one of the objectives.
06:06And of course, the drug trafficking routes do change all the time.
06:10The trafficking organizations do try to stay,
06:13and usually succeed in staying one step ahead of the authorities.
06:17And if the focus has been on the Pacific in recent times, which it certainly has,
06:22they can always switch back to the Caribbean,
06:24which was where the whole thing started.
06:27Drug trafficking from Colombia into the Everglades of Florida was way back in the previous century.
06:35So these things are very flexible.
06:37But clearly, at the moment, this is sending a guided missile cruiser
06:43and the other warships to sort of lurk off the coast of Venezuela
06:47is very much intended to project American power
06:50and to possibly give the green light to other Latin American governments
06:57to do similar actions against drug trafficking organizations in their countries.
07:04Thank you very much for that, Colin Harding,
07:06journalist and former Latin American editor of The Independent.
07:09Thank you very much for that, Colin Harding.
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