By Yasin Gungor
ISTANBUL (AA) - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended continued military action Wednesday against suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean, calling them "imminent threats" to American security.
Rubio defended a recent US military strike on a boat allegedly operated by the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua criminal organization that killed 11 people in international waters.
"If you're on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl, whatever, headed to the United States, you're an immediate threat to the United States," Rubio told reporters alongside Mexican Foreign Secretary Juan Ramon de la Fuente in Mexico City.
He said President Donald Trump has authority as commander in chief to "eliminate some imminent threats to the United States" under "exigent circumstances."
"That's what he did yesterday in international waters, and that's what he intends to do," he said.
He warned traffickers against operating freely in Caribbean waters. "We're not going to sit back anymore and watch these people sail up and down the Caribbean like a cruise ship," Rubio said. "They're not going to bring drugs into the United States. We're going to stop them."
Tensions between the Trump administration and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have recently escalated after the US deployed a naval group to the southern Caribbean. The US claims the force is there to combat criminal cartels and drug trafficking.
The deployment followed an increased reward of $50 million for information leading to Maduro's arrest.