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US House rejects resolution to end operations against drug cartels

The Republican-majority House voted 216 to 210 against this resolution

WASHINGTON, December 18. /TASS/. The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly defeated a resolution to remover US armed forces from hostilities with "any presidentially designated terrorist organization in the Western Hemisphere" unless authorized by Congress.

The Republican-majority House voted 216 to 210 against this resolution.

In February, the US administration designated eight drug cartels - Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and Clan del Golfo transnational groups, as well as Mexico’s Sinaloa, Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Unidos, Noreste, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana - as foreign terrorist organization.

Washington accuses Caracas of not doing enough to combat drug smuggling. Under this pretext, a strike group of US warships led by the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, o nuclear-powered submarine, and more than 16,000 troops have reportedly been deployed by the United States to the Caribbean. Since September, the US has destroyed at least 20 boats and eliminated more than 80 people allegedly involved in drug trafficking from Venezuela.

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