A public petition to halt the U.S. strike campaign on alleged drug boats off the Venezuelan coast has surpassed 40,000 signatures after President Donald Trump and his administration escalated months of increasing pressure with a direct attack on the South American country.
The U.S. has attacked at least 30 suspected narcotrafficking vessels since early September as part of a purported crackdown on drugs flowing into the U.S. that has attracted increasingly congressional scrutiny. More than 100 people have been killed, according to the administration's numbers.
U.S. forces close to Venezuela have ballooned, and the U.S. has seized two sanctioned oil tankers near the country, further ratcheting up the heat for Caracas and the nation's president, Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro is wanted in the U.S. on narcoterrorism charges, and U.S. authorities have offered a $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest. Maduro, whose reelection last year is not internationally recognized by countries like the U.S., has denied heading up narcotics networks.
The online petition, which was closing in on 42,000 signatures as of 9 a.m. ET on Tuesday, calls on lawmakers to "rein in these unconstitutional military strikes and stop Trump from sending us to war with Venezuela!" Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment via email.
Congressional efforts to limit the U.S. military actions close to Venezuela have so far failed. The White House has said Washington is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels. Experts, along with current and former officials, have raised questions about the legal basis for the strikes.
Trump had said on Friday during a radio interview with WABC the U.S. had "knocked out" a "big facility where the ships come from" two nights earlier, but did not give any further information.
When probed by reporters on Monday, the president said there had been a "major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs." This is the first known U.S. strike on Venezuelan soil.
The CIA carried out a drone strike on a port facility along Venezuela's coast earlier this month, CNN reported on Monday.
Trump publicly confirmed in October he had authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in the South American country.
The U.S. reportedly targeted a dock believed to store drugs for transport out of the country by the Venezuelan-based Tren de Aragua gang. There was no one onsite at the time, according to the report.
The U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) separately said two "male narco-terrorists" had been killed in a U.S. strike in the eastern Pacific on Monday.
The U.S. started strikes in the eastern Pacific in October.
"We need to show Congress that we are paying attention and demand they act," the petition's organizers have said.
The U.S. "conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters," SOUTHCOM said on Monday.