United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that military attacks on alleged drug traffickers will “happen again”, brushing aside concerns over the legality of such attacks and the sovereignty of Latin American nations.Speaking during a news conference in Mexico City on Wednesday, Rubio pledged continued security coordination with countries like Mexico, but suggested the US would not hesitate to take extreme measures on its own.His remarks, in part, were a response to President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US had blown up a vessel in the Caribbean Sea a day earlier.Trump and Rubio identified the small boat as a drug-smuggling vessel coming from Venezuela, though no details were provided. All 11 people on board reportedly died.Rubio framed the air strike as part of a shifting strategy in the US’s ongoing “war on drugs”.“The United States has long — for many, many years — established intelligence that allowed us to interdict and stop drug boats. And we did that. And it doesn’t work. Interdiction doesn’t work,” Rubio said.“What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.”Rubio then explained that the attack was authorised personally by Trump. It had been in the south Caribbean Sea at the time of the attack, and Rubio said it was headed for the US.“Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up. And it will happen again,” Rubio said. “Maybe it’s happening right now. I don’t know.”Rubio’s visi …
