US President Donald Trump asserted on Wednesday that his administration has the legal right to launch strikes against vessels a short distance from the Venezuelan coast in the Caribbean that he says are transporting drugs, adding that his administration may serve Congress with notice if it decides to begin striking targets on the ground.
“We are allowed to do this,” however, “if we do it on the ground, we may go back to Congress,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He added that his administration is “absolutely prepared” to begin launching strikes against what he says are drug traffickers on Venezuelan soil.
"We're going to hit them really hard if they come by land," he said. "We're probably going to go back to Congress and explain exactly what we're doing when we go by land. We don't have to do it, but I think (...) I'd love to do it."
The legality of the strikes against vessels that the Trump administration says are trafficking drugs in foreign or international waters is being questioned by experts. Critics of his administration speak of extrajudicial killings and violations of international maritime law. Moreover, Democratic opposition figures remind us that the authority to declare war – which strikes on Venezuelan soil could lead to – formally lies with Congress, not the US president.
Maduro: We have 5.000 portable anti-aircraft missiles
Venezuela has 5.000 Russian-made portable anti-aircraft missiles that could be used to counter US threats, President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday.
"Every army in the world knows the power of the Igla-S and Venezuela has in its possession (…) no less than 5.000 Igla-S," said the Venezuelan president, as the US has been carrying out strikes since September against speedboats that Washington says are transporting drugs, against "narco-terrorists" from the Latin American country, as they say, and US President Donald Trump is leaving open the possibility of ordering strikes against land targets.
The originally Soviet-designed MANPADS referred to by President Maduro are manufactured by the Russian company KBM. They are believed to have an effective range of up to 6 kilometers; they are generally used against low-altitude targets.
Source: protothema.gr
