Trump says he doubts US will go to war with Venezuela

Donald Trump has played down the possibility of a US war with Venezuela, but suggested Nicolás Maduro's days as the country's president were numbered.

Asked if the US was going to war against Venezuela, the US president told CBS' 60 Minutes: "I doubt it. I don't think so. But they've been treating us very badly."

For two months, the US military has been building up a force of warships, fighter jets, bombers, marines, drones and spy planes in the Caribbean Sea. It is the largest deployment there for decades.

The US continues to launch strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. The Trump administration says the strikes are necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the US.

Trump rejected suggestions that the US action was not about stopping narcotics, but aimed at ousting Maduro, a long-time Trump opponent, saying it was about "many things".

At least 64 people have been killed by US strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early September, CBS News - the BBC's US news partner - reports.

Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Trump said: "Every single boat that you see that's shot down kills 25,000 on drugs and destroys families all over our country."  READ MORE ...https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c709rwxzx9yo