The United States struck two alleged drug-carrying vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Sunday, killing six people on board, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday, as calls mounted for investigations into the strikes.
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“These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and were transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route,” Hegseth said in a social media post, which included a video of the boats being struck.
The US has carried out more than a dozen strikes since September on vessels near the Venezuelan coast and, more recently, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing more than 70 people, according to the Hegseth, as the US escalates a military build-up in the Caribbean Sea.
The US has alleged, without presenting evidence, that the boats it bombed were transporting drugs, but foreign leaders, some members of Congress, legal experts and family members of those killed have called for proof.
The United Nations human rights chief has called the US strikes on alleged drug dealers unacceptable and a violation of international human rights law. Venezuela says they are illegal, amount to murder and are aggression against the sovereign South American country.
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