Zürcher Nachrichten - Trump says will 'look into' reported double-tap strike on alleged drug boat

The United States is piling pressure on Caracas with a major military buildup in the Caribbean, the terror designation of a presumed drug cartel run by President Nicolas Maduro, and an ominous warning from Trump that Venezuelan airspace is "closed."

In the most recent controversy, The Washington Post reported last week that in an operation in early September, US forces hit a boat after seeing two survivors of an initial strike clinging to the burning vessel.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered troops to kill everyone on board, The Washington Post and CNN both reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the operation.

"The order was to kill everybody," one of the sources told the Post.

Trump defended Hegseth, arguing the reports were false.

"I'm going to find out about it, but Pete said he did not order the death of those two men," the president told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.

When asked if he would have wanted a second attempt to kill the survivors, Trump said: "We'll look into it, but no, I wouldn't have wanted that -- not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal."

Hegseth has dismissed the reports as "fake news."

Washington says the aim of the military deployment that began in September is to curb drug trafficking in the region, but Caracas insists regime change is the ultimate goal.

Trump confirmed on Sunday he had recently spoken with Venezuela's Maduro.

"I wouldn't say it went well or badly. It was a phone call," Trump said.

- Aid from OPEC? -

The New York Times reported on Friday that Trump and Maduro had discussed a possible meeting, while The Wall Street Journal said Saturday that the conversation also included conditions of amnesty if Maduro were to step down.

Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" talk show that the United States has offered Maduro the chance to leave his country for Russia or elsewhere.

Washington accuses Maduro, the political heir to Venezuela's late leftist leader Hugo Chavez, of heading the "Cartel of the Suns" and has issued a $50 million reward for his capture.

But Venezuela and its supporters insist no such organization even exists.

The United States also does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate winner of last year's presidential election.

Though Trump has not publicly threatened to use force against Maduro, he said in recent days that efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking "by land" would begin "very soon."

Venezuela says it has requested assistance from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which it is a member, to help "stop this (American) aggression, which is being readied with more and more force."

The request came in a letter from Maduro to the group, read by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who is also Venezuela's oil minister, during a virtual meeting of OPEC ministers.

Washington "is trying to seize Venezuela's vast oil reserves, the biggest in the world, by using military force," Maduro wrote in the letter.

- 'Extrajudicial executions' -

Since September, US air strikes have targeted alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 83 people.

Trump's administration has offered no concrete evidence to back up the allegations of drug trafficking behind the campaign, and numerous experts have questioned the legality of the operations.

The head of Venezuela's legislature, Jorge Rodriguez, said he met Sunday with relatives of Venezuelans killed in the strikes.

When asked about the report about Hegseth's order, he said: "If a war had been declared and led to such killings, we would be talking about war crimes."

"Given that no war has been declared, what happened... can only be characterized as murder or extrajudicial executions."

The steady US military buildup has seen the world's largest aircraft carrier deployed to Caribbean waters, while American fighter jets and bombers have repeatedly flown off the Venezuelan coast in recent days.

Six airlines have canceled services to Venezuela, but on Sunday, the airport in Caracas was functioning as usual.

H.Roth--NZN