NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said recent U.S. strikes on boats carrying alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers delivered a powerful warning to anyone seeking to bring drugs into the United States.
“To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned that we will blow you out of existence,” Trump said in an address to the United Nations.
Trump asserted, without evidence, that every boat hit by U.S. forces contained drugs that would kill more than 25,000 Americans.
He also repeated his assertion that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro leads drug trafficking networks, which Maduro denies.
Reuters reported on Saturday that Maduro had offered to engage in direct talks with the Trump administration via special envoy Richard Grenell days after the first U.S. strike on a boat from the South American country, which killed 11 people.
In a letter to Trump, Maduro rejected U.S. claims that Venezuela plays a big role in drug trafficking. He said just 5% of drugs produced in Colombia are shipped through Venezuela – of which he said 70% were neutralized and destroyed by Venezuelan authorities.
Trump on Friday announced at least the third strike on alleged drug vessels from Venezuela amid a large U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean that includes seven warships, a nuclear-powered submarine and F-35 stealth fighters.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery, writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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