A secret video revealed in Congress confirms that the US killed two ‘narcos’ from a boat with a second attack

The images shown to the congressmen show that a first explosion destroyed most of the boat, causing a large column of smoke. Half an hour later, when visibility was restored, two of the eleven alleged drug traffickers were still alive and they tried to stay afloat by clinging to the hull while they tried to turn it around without success. Admiral Bradley then gave the order to launch a new attack and the men disappeared.

Bradley appeared at a closed door meeting of the Armed Forces committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives that investigate the legality of military actions within the anti-drug campaign undertaken by the president Donald Trump.

This meeting was held after Democratic legislators, and also some Republicans, asked the Administration for explanations following a publication of The Washington Post which reported that in that bombing, where all eleven crew members died, a second attack was carried out to kill two survivors.

The Democrats, according to the American press, left the meetings alarmed and promised to move forward with the incipient questions from Congress on the legality of the bombings. Some Republicans, loyal to the Trump Administration, defended the operation with the same arguments as the president, who has been claiming for months that the drugs transported through the Caribbean are responsible for the deaths of thousands of US citizens.

Legitimate goals

The Democratic legislator Jim Himes He defined what he observed during the meeting as “one of the most disturbing things” he has witnessed in his life and assured that the video of the second attack shows two people in danger who are “killed” by the United States. The Republican Tom Cottonchairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, defended the admiral’s position and said that if he were in his place he would have ordered multiple attacks.

According to The New York TimesDuring the briefings, Army officials detailed that a second attack was ordered due to the possibility that part of the boat was still afloat because it still contained packages of cocaine. They thought that the survivors could return to Venezuela or that another vessel, with which they would be communicating, could recover the drugsalthough they did not show any evidence to support these claims.

Asked by the press on Wednesday at the White House, Trump said the Pentagon will release the video of the second bombing, although he downplayed the controversy, as has Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who claims he did not directly supervise the attack.

The September 2 operation marked the beginning of the Trump Administration’s deadly military campaign against drug trafficking in the Caribbean, sinking boats and semi-submersibles that supposedly transport drugs. So far, more than twenty boats have been attacked with a death toll of almost 90. The last episode was announced this Thursday by the Army, which has added four more fatalities.

A defense official explained to the network NBC News that Admiral Bradley considered that the two survivors were identified as legitimate military objectives that he could identify as “narcoterrorists.” Democrats and other jurists argue that drug boat crew members cannot be treated with that category.

The White House links the attacked vessels to the Aragua Train or the Cartel of the Suns, elusive criminal groups originating in Venezuela that Washington has classified as terrorists within its large military deployment in the Caribbean and increasing pressure on the Government of Nicolás Maduro.