#GLOBALNEWS US-Venezuela crisis deepens: Trump, Maduro hurl accusations after more Venezuelan vessels struck

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Venezuela should stop sending gang members and “people from prison” to the United States.

Trump made the comments at the White House after his second strike against an alleged drug boat in the southern Caribbean in recent weeks. The strike killed three people.

Trump administration has ratcheted up U.S. military presence in the southern Caribbean as part of what it says is a crackdown on drug smugglers, killing 11 people this month and sinking a boat from Venezuela that the Trump administration said was transporting illegal narcotics.

“This isn’t tension. It is an aggression all down the line, it’s a judicial aggression when they criminalize us, a political aggression with their daily threatening statements, a diplomatic aggression and an ongoing aggression of military character,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Monday.