Trump admin to repatriate survivors of drug boat strike to Ecuador, Colombia
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The Trump administration is set to send back to Ecuador and Colombia two suspected drug traffickers who survived a recent U.S. military operation in the Caribbean.

On Saturday, President Trump revealed that the two individuals who lived through Thursday’s U.S. forces’ boat attack, which resulted in the deaths of two other “narcoterrorists,” will be returned to their home countries to face “detention and prosecution.”

Currently, it remains uncertain whether Ecuador and Colombia will pursue legal action against the alleged narcoterrorists or if they might eventually be freed.

The decision to repatriate the survivors follows their capture on Thursday. After the strike, they were taken aboard a Navy vessel, where they received necessary medical care.

The group of four suspected drug traffickers was caught traveling in a semi-submersible vessel. According to Trump, their craft was navigating a “well-known narcotrafficking transit route” towards the U.S., laden primarily with fentanyl, along with other controlled substances.

“It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. “U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics.”  

Trump said that no U.S. forces were injured in the operation and claimed that 25,000 Americans would have died if the submersible reached the U.S. shore. 

“Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea,” Trump said. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!” 

The Thursday strike appears to be the first one since the U.S. began striking alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea that had survivors. It was the sixth strike since early September. 

The first five strikes against alleged drug-trafficking vessels off the coast of Venezuela have killed 27 people, according to the administration. 

The administration has ramped up its military presence in the Caribbean and turned up the pressure against Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro, whom the administration deems an “illegitimate” leader.

On Thursday, a Pentagon official said that there are around 10,000 U.S. forces supporting counternarcotics operations in the region.

Trump seemingly confirmed on Wednesday that he authorized the CIA to conduct operations in Venezuela. 

The president dropped an f-bomb on Friday during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House, warning Maduro not to engage in a conflict with the U.S. 

“He doesn’t want to f‑‑‑ with the U.S.,” Trump told reporters. 

On Thursday, the same day as the latest strike, the Defense Department (DOD) announced that four-star Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey, who is the commander of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees Central and South American military operations, will retire from the Navy on Dec. 12, less than a year into his post. 

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