Venezuelan South Florida community divided over U.S. strike on "drug-carrying" boat
South Florida's Venezuelan community voiced mixed feelings Tuesday after a U.S. military strike on what officials described as a "drug-carrying" boat from Venezuela killed 11 people.
Some residents welcomed the move against traffickers, while others expressed concern about potential retaliation from Nicolás Maduro's government.
Fear of Venezuela's response
In Doral, residents said attacking drug traffickers is necessary, but many worried about the consequences in their homeland.
People with family still in Caracas and other Venezuelan cities said they hope Maduro's response does not bring new suffering. Several declined to be identified or quoted.
"All of the action to bring (drug trafficking) crime to an end is good," said a man from Doral identified only as Frank. "Drugs hurt our community here in a bad way. So the government has to take action against whoever owns and brings the drugs from whatever country."
Last month, Maduro vowed to defend against any possible U.S. attack while criticizing U.S. Navy plans to deploy three warships near Venezuela as part of an anti-drug cartel mission.
Rubio, Trump defend attack
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said on his "X" social media account that the ship attacked Tuesday belongs to a narco-terrorist organization. Speaking as he boarded a plane from his hometown in Miami, Rubio backed President Donald Trump.
"Suffice to say the president is going to be on offense against drug cartels and drug trafficking in the United States," Rubio said.
He added that the crime affects more than just the U.S.
"These particular drugs were probably headed to Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean at which they just contribute to the instability that these countries are facing," Rubio said.
President Trump also defended the strike.
"There's more where that came from," Trump said. "We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country coming in for a long time and this came out of Venezuela and came out very heavily from Venezuela. A lot of things are coming out of Venezuela. So we took it out."
