U.S. military strike on a cartel boat leaves survivors for the first time, U.S. official says

The US military carried out a strike on a suspected Venezuelan drug cartel boat in international waters in the Caribbean on Thursday, and for the first time there were survivors, according to a US official.

The strike is at least the fifth carried out by the Trump administration against boats in international waters suspected of being linked to Venezuelan drug cartels. At least 21 people were killed in four previous strikes, with no survivors.

NBC News reported that US lawmakers were increasingly concerned about the lack of information provided to the White House about the operations.

President Donald Trump made an extraordinary admission on Wednesday, confirming that he had authorized the CIA to carry out unspecified actions in Venezuela.

“Why did you allow the CIA into Venezuela? » a reporter asked Trump at the White House.

“I allowed it for two reasons, really,” he replied. “First, they emptied their prisons to the United States of America.

“And the other thing is drugs,” he added. “We get a lot of drugs from Venezuela.”