US vice-president Vance joked at a rally on September 17 about an attack on a Venezuelan ship and said “I’m not going fishing now”, the independent reported. Relations between the US and Venezuela remain tense, with more than 10 people killed, the legality of US actions being questioned and Vance’s comments heavily criticised online.
Vice President Vance speaks at a rally in Michigan on Sept. 17,2010. Photo from n media
According to reports, Vance was at a rally in Michigan that day to talk about the American attack on the Venezuelan ship, paraphrasing a conversation he had with his United States Secretary of Defense Hergeses. Hergeseths is said to have said to him, “We didn’t see any drug ships coming into our country, they just stopped,” he said. “I said, ‘I know why. ‘ . I would have stopped. Hell, I wouldn’t fish in that place right now,” Vance said, prompting laughter from supporters. Then he began to praise the commander in chief, President Donald Trump.
Vance’s flirtatious remarks came under fire online amid questions about the legality of the US attack on an alleged Venezuelan “Drug ship”, according to the independent. One commenter on social media platform X said, “This is really not funny. Countries have no right to destroy ships in international waters without a legal basis.” Another said, “The vice president of the United States doesn’t even know if they’re killing drug dealers or fishermen.”
Donald Trump said on social media on Sept. 2 that U.S. forces had opened fire on ships “Transporting illegal narcotics to the United States” in international waters in the United States Southern Command Zone, the 11 people killed were “Identified” as members of the ARAGOUA train gang. In response, Maduro said at a news conference that the authenticity of the attack and whether 11 people allegedly from Venezuela were killed were still in dispute. The Commission is conducting an investigation, and he stressed that the United States should take the lead in launching an investigation.
Several US media recently quoted sources with knowledge of the situation as saying that the ship had already turned around and headed for the shore before the US military attack began. The Pentagon has yet to provide conclusive evidence to prove that the target of the attack on the 2nd was a drug dealer, no specific destination could be determined.