The US has attacked several Venezuelan boats and deployed its largest military buildup in Latin America in decades.

United States President Donald Trump’s campaign against “narcoterrorists” has transformed the Caribbean into a new battlefield.

Since August, Washington has deployed thousands of troops, warships and aircraft across the region, and reopened military bases in Puerto Rico and conducted drills, in what analysts describe as the largest US presence in Latin America in decades.

In September, the US began a series of strikes on Venezuelan boats it claims were trafficking drugs to the US, with the latest attack on Friday killing six people on board. Last week, Trump announced that he had authorised covert CIA operations in Venezuela and that he was even mulling a land attack.

However, on Thursday, Trump denied that all this amounts to a declaration of war on Venezuela.

“Well, I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” he said.

“I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. OK? We’re going to kill them,” Trump said.

How many Venezuelan boats has the US attacked?

The US military has carried out at least ten deadly strikes on vessels off Venezuela’s coast, and in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean since September 2, marking the most inten