US President Donald Trump assured yesterday Wednesday that his administration has the legal right to launch strikes against vessels a short distance from the coast of Venezuela, in the Caribbean, which he says are transporting drugs, adding that his administration may notify Congress if it decides to start hitting targets on the ground.

“We’re allowed to do this,” however, “if we do it on the ground, we might go back to Congress,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He added that his government is “absolutely prepared” to begin launching strikes against what he says are drug traffickers on Venezuelan soil.

“We will hit them very hard if they come overland,” he said. “We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we go ashore. We don’t have to do it, but I think (…) I would like to do it.”

The legality of the Trump administration’s crackdown on boaters believed to be trafficking drugs in foreign or international waters is being questioned by experts. Critics of his government speak of extrajudicial killings and violations of international law of the sea. Besides, members of the democratic opposition remind us that the authority to declare war – which could lead to strikes on Venezuelan soil – typically rests with Congress, not the US president.