War between the United States and Venezuela has edged closer. The Pentagon announced yet another extrajudicial strike on a speedboat that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed was “without a doubt…trafficking narcotics”. Friday’s assault was the fourth such incident in a month, and the US government does not even pretend to claim that its actions are permissible under international law.

Without providing any supporting evidence, Hegseth took to social media to claim that the latest attack took place on Friday morning. He described it as a “lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organisations”, a presumed reference to Tren de Aragua , a Venezuelan criminal gang that the Trump administration accuses of conveying drugs to US shores.

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