The US military once again attacked a Venezuelan drug-carrying ship, killing three people. Maduro: This is outright aggression.

On September 15th, local time, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared the US’s actions against his country “total aggression.” He again rejected the drug-related allegations, criticizing the US for fabricating lies aimed at promoting regime change and stealing Venezuela’s wealth. The Trump administration has recently cited its efforts to combat Latin American drug cartels as justification. Later that day, US President Trump released a video claiming that the US military had carried out a second strike on a Venezuelan drug-carrying vessel that same day, killing three people. He also mentioned that “large bags of cocaine and fentanyl were scattered across the ocean after the vessel exploded.” Trump did not provide evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs, and the blurry video made it impossible to confirm whether it had been tampered with. At a press conference attended by senior military officers and other officials on the 15th, Maduro stated that the US government is attempting to justify its “criminal attack” on Venezuela. “This is not tension, this is outright aggression,” Maduro said, accusing the US of “criminalizing us in the legal field; in the political field, they issue threats every day; and in the diplomatic and military fields, they continue to wage aggression.”