Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the U.S. will continue to blow up suspected drug vessels instead of just intercepting them, citing orders from President Donald Trump.
Speaking to reporters in Mexico City, Rubio said Trump made the call for the military to blow up a boat that American officials suspected was carrying illegal drugs from Venezuela to the U.S., foregoing the option to simply stop the boat.
“Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up — and it’ll happen again. Maybe it’s happening right now,” Rubio told reporters Wednesday in Mexico City a day after Trump disclosed the strike, which marks a major escalation in his administration’s crusade against drug trafficking.
Stopping boats and capturing smugglers is ineffective, Rubio continued.
“The United States has long, for many, many years, established intelligence that allow us to interdict and stop drug boats,” he said. “We did that, and it doesn’t work.”
