(NewsNation) — Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she is “happy that the U.S. naval deployment is having success in their mission,” referencing a recent strike on an alleged Tren de Aragua drug boat.
The United States on Tuesday carried out what President Donald Trump called a “kinetic strike” on a boat leaving Venezuela. It was reportedly a “drug vessel” carrying Venezuelan gang members, 11 of whom died, according to Trump.
“Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America,” Trump said in a social media post announcing the attack. “BEWARE!”
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Persad-Bissessar said she — and most people in her twin-island nation — appreciate the United States’ actions.
“The pain and suffering the cartels have inflicted on our nation is immense. I have no sympathy for traffickers; the U.S. military should kill them all violently,” she said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the drugs aboard the boat were likely headed from Venezuela to nearby Trinidad and Tobago.
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Caribbean leaders from Caricom, a 15-member regional trade bloc including Trinidad and Tobago, reportedly wrote to Rubio asking for future military operations to come with more notice and explanation.
“What effectively we are trying to do is to work through the diplomatic channels of making sure that there are no surprises and practices, so that you get notification wherever it is feasible for actions that are going to have a foreseeable regional impact,” said Barbadian Foreign Minister Kerrie Symmonds, according to local reporting.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
