WASHINGTON, October 11. /TASS/. Pentagon will create a special unit of the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) to combat drug trafficking from Latin America amid accusations against Venezuela of insufficient control over the smuggling of psychotropic substances, its head Pete Hegseth said.

"At the President’s direction, the Department of War is establishing a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force in the @SOUTHCOM area of responsibility to crush the cartels, stop the poison, and keep America safe. The message is clear: if you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold," he said on X.

Recently, the US Navy has destroyed at least four high-speed boats in the international waters of the Caribbean Sea with people in them who were unfairly accused of transporting drugs from Venezuela. In a speech at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly on September 23, US President Donald Trump said that the armed forces would continue to attack ships allegedly linked to Venezuelan drug cartels.