Venezuela rejects US allegations of claims of deadly Caribbean strike

(MENAFN) Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello stated Thursday that none of the 11 people killed in last week’s US strike on a boat in the Caribbean were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, contradicting Washington’s claims.

“We have conducted our investigations here in our country, and there are the families of the disappeared people who want their relatives,” Cabello said. “When we asked in the towns, none were from Tren de Aragua, none were drug traffickers.”

Cabello directly challenged US President Donald Trump’s statement that the vessel was operated by the Tren de Aragua cartel and carrying drugs to the United States, calling it “a tremendous falsehood, a tremendous lie” and adding that “a murder was committed against a group of citizens.”

The US military has positioned warships equipped with missiles and a nuclear-powered submarine near Venezuela, along with 10 F-35 fighter jets at a Puerto Rico airbase, as part of an intensified campaign against drug cartels.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro warned that anyone advocating for an invasion would be “immediately tried” as a “traitor to the homeland” and reiterated that the country would resort to “armed struggle” if attacked by the United States. “Anyone who calls for bombing or invading the country is a traitor to the homeland and must be tried immediately, wherever they are,” he said.

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