Trump rules out strikes in Venezuela after reports of military buildup

US President Donald Trump dismissed any US plans to conduct strikes within Venezuela to curb the drug-trafficking within the region.

This comes after reports emerged that the US is considering plans to target cocaine facilities and drug trafficking routes in Venezuela.

When asked whether the reports are true, Donald Trump said, "No, it's not true."

Last week, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the US Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier strike group, the USS Gerald R Ford, to move from Europe to the Caribbean.

Earlier, US Senator Lindsey Graham also warned that land strikes in Venezuela are a "real possibility", signalling a sharp escalation in Washington's campaign against narco-trafficking networks in Latin America.

Speaking on CBS News, Graham revealed that "President Trump told me yesterday that he plans to brief members of Congress when he gets back from Asia about future potential military operations against Venezuela and Colombia."

Meanwhile, the US continue to conduct airstrikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the latest airstrike in the eastern Pacific targeted a boat carrying drugs, killing four people. It was the 14th strike since early September and the 15th boat destroyed. The total death toll from these operations has risen to at least 61.

The United Nations has urged the US to immediately stop airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and prevent the "extrajudicial killing of people."

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said that "over 60 people have reportedly been killed in a continuing series of attacks carried out by US armed forces against boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since early September, in circumstances that find no justification in international law."

"These attacks, and their mounting human cost, are unacceptable. The US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them," Turk added.