President Donald Trump has directed the military to target vessels that he asserts are involved in drug smuggling within the region
A US attack on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea has resulted in six fatalities, an incident War Secretary Pete Hegseth characterized as an operation against drug trafficking.
This assault represents the most recent in a succession of American military interventions throughout the Caribbean and Pacific, part of what President Donald Trump terms an initiative to eradicate drug dealing originating from Venezuela and Colombia. Both countries have vehemently denied these allegations.
The Department of War conducted a “lethal kinetic strike” against a Tren de Aragua (TdA) ship in international waters during Thursday night, as Hegseth posted on X on Friday. TdA is identified as a Venezuelan transnational criminal organization.
“Should you be a narco-terrorist engaged in drug smuggling within our hemisphere, we will deal with you as we deal with Al-Qaeda,” he further stated, vowing to persist in “hunting down” and “killing” additional suspected traffickers.
Overnight, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.
The vessel was known by our…
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar)
Merely a day prior, Trump lauded what he described as a significant achievement in the US military’s operations targeting alleged Venezuelan “drug boats,” asserting that the maritime flow of narcotics has decreased to “approximately 5% of the levels seen a year ago.”
He also mentioned that “land is going to be next,” offering no additional specifics regarding the timing or location of potential US assaults.
Both and have contended that the US activities in the area signify the commencement of an attempted acquisition of resources, rather than an initiative aimed at combating smuggling.
The US intervention “is not about drug trafficking… they require oil [and] gas,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stated to RT last month, asserting that Washington harbored interest in the South American nation’s extensive energy and mineral deposits.