Venezuela Tensions Ignite: Boat Strikes, War Crime Accusations, and Everything You Need to Know

New York Post

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00:00Tensions between the United States and Venezuela have been building for months, with the Trump

00:04administration having ramped up pressure on the country by launching strikes against alleged

00:09drug boats, deploying military assets in the Caribbean, and putting a $50 million bounty

00:14on the country's leader, Nicolas Maduro.

00:17The international feud has now drawn accusations of war crimes as fears grow that a war in

00:22the Caribbean country is on the horizon.

00:25Here's everything you need to know about the latest on the conflict.

00:28In August, President Trump secretly authorized the U.S. military to use force against Latin

00:33American drug cartels, classified as foreign terrorist organizations.

00:38In a show of force to combat the cartels, which Trump blames for flooding American communities

00:43with fentanyl and other illicit drugs, the administration sent U.S. warships into Venezuelan waters.

00:49But Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro wasn't happy with the U.S. deployment, calling it

00:54an illegal regime change attempt.

00:56Two Venezuelan military aircraft even flew over a U.S. Navy ship, conducting counter-drug

01:02operations in the area, in what the Pentagon described as a highly provocative move.

01:07But I would say, General, if they do that, you have a choice of doing anything you want.

01:12Okay?

01:13If they fly in a dangerous position, I would say that you can, you or your captains can make

01:18the decision as to what they want to do.

01:20Trump has been critical of Maduro's leadership and doesn't recognize the dictator as legitimate.

01:26This past summer, the administration placed a $50 million bounty on the leader's head

01:31to face outstanding drug charges in New York.

01:34According to one survey exclusively shared with the Post, most Venezuelans don't even consider

01:38Maduro legitimately elected after the dictator stole the country's past two elections.

01:43In early September, the U.S. military began carrying out strikes in the Caribbean Sea and

01:48Eastern Pacific, targeting suspected drug smugglers based in Venezuela.

01:53For weeks, a steady stream of footage showing the strikes as part of Operation Southern Spear

01:58has been released by the Department of War, having destroyed nearly two dozen vessels and

02:03killed more than 80 people.

02:04Trump has since ramped up pressure on Venezuela and even warned on Thanksgiving that the U.S.

02:09would target drug trafficking networks by land soon.

02:14People aren't wanting to be delivering by sea, and we'll be starting to stop them by land

02:20also.

02:21The land is easier, but that's going to start very soon.

02:24We'd warn them, stop sending poison to our country.

02:28And in a Saturday morning Truth Social post, Trump wrote that he would be shutting down Venezuelan

02:33airspace in its entirety.

02:36To all airlines, pilots, drug dealers, and human traffickers, please consider the airspace

02:41above and surrounding Venezuela to be closed in its entirety, he wrote.

02:47Trump's post came after the world leaders reportedly had a tense phone call that failed to reach

02:51conciliation, and ended in Trump issuing a strongly worded ultimatum to Maduro, according

02:57to a report from the Miami Herald.

03:00According to the report, the socialist president demanded to be allowed to maintain control of

03:04Venezuela's military if he paved the way for free elections there, and also reportedly

03:09sought global amnesty for all his alleged crimes, including narco-terrorism.

03:15Trump's refusal on both counts was said to be swift as he reportedly told Maduro to resign

03:19and leave, or else.

03:22The Venezuela president had not been seen publicly for nearly five days, leading to speculation

03:27that he had fled the country, until he made an appearance, giving prizes and delivering

03:31remarks at an annual coffee awards ceremony in the eastern part of the capital, Caracas,

03:36on Sunday.

03:37The American commander in chief confirmed to reporters that same day that he had spoken

03:41with Maduro over the phone recently.

03:43Did he say it went well?

03:44Did he say it went well?

03:45No, he said it went well.

03:47Badly.

03:48Badly.

03:49Badly.

03:50Badly.

03:51War secretary Hegseth has also made headlines over his role in the conflict, now facing troubling

03:56allegations that in the first military strike on September 2nd, he reportedly ordered no survivors

04:02be left, according to a bombshell report from the Washington Post.

04:07According to the outlet, a joint special operations command commander reportedly ordered a second

04:11airstrike on the speedboat carrying 11 Trende Aragua narco-terrorists after the first strike

04:17left two people clinging to the wreckage.

04:19The call for a second strike was allegedly given in response to a verbal order from Pete

04:24Hegseth to quote, kill everybody, the outlet reported.

04:28The report sparked bipartisan outcry on Capitol Hill, with Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine

04:33going so far as to label Hegseth's alleged actions as a war crime.

04:37Well, first, if that reporting is true, it's a clear violation of the DOD's own laws of

04:43war, as well as international laws about the way you treat people who are in that circumstance.

04:50And so this rises to the level of a war crime, if it's true.

04:54In an ex-post, Hegseth defiantly dismissed the report as quote, fabricated, inflammatory,

05:00and derogatory.

05:02As we've said from the beginning and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are

05:06specifically intended to be lethal kinetic strikes, he wrote.

05:11Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a designated terrorist organization.

05:16Hegseth went on to assert the operations are lawful under both U.S. and international law.

05:21Aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump defended Hegseth, but said his administration would

05:26look into the issue, as Democratic lawmakers vow to investigate and prosecute anyone who

05:31gave illegal orders in response to the report.

05:35He said he did not order the death of the storm.

05:39But no, I wouldn't have wanted the second strike.

05:42The first strike was very lethal, it was lied, and if there were two people around, but Pete

05:47said that didn't happen.

05:48Does that mean you?

05:49Trump is set to convene his top staff in the Oval Office on Monday night to determine what

05:55steps will be taken in the pressure campaign on the South American country of 28 million

06:01people.

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