Trump says six killed in new strike against alleged drug boat off Venezuela

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday a new strike by U.S. forces against a boat in the Caribbean that, according to the Republican, was carrying drugs. At least six people have died in the attack.

In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, the U.S. president also included a video of the strike. This is at least the fifth attack on a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean since September 2, which have left at least 27 people dead in total.

The strikes on these boats are part of Trump’s increasingly controversial use of U.S. armed forces — from combating drug trafficking in the Caribbean to policing the streets of predominantly Democratic cities.

“Under my Standing Authorities as Commander-in-Chief, this morning, the Secretary of War [Pete Hegseth, head of the renamed Secretary of Defense], ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility — just off the Coast of Venezuela," said Trump in the post. The Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua was added to the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations this past February.

As in previous instances when Trump or Hegseth announced attacks on alleged drug boats, details remain scarce. Neither then nor now have they provided information about the nationalities or identities of those killed, the specific criminal organization allegedly involved, or the type of drugs the vessel was supposedly carrying.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route. The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike. No U.S. Forces were harmed,” said Trump in the post.

The White House maintains that these strikes are justified and fully legitimate from both a moral and legal standpoint, while critics denounce them as unlawful and question why the boats aren’t simply intercepted and their occupants interrogated.

“The president has directed these actions, these strikes against Venezuelan drug cartels in these boats, consistent with his responsibility to protect the United States interests abroad and in furtherance of the U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier this month, after Hegseth announced a fourth attack. “This is pursuant to his constitutional authority as commander in chief, and the chief executive, to conduct foreign relations.”

The 30-second video shared by Trump on social media shows what appears to be a small boat stopped at sea, moments before it is hit by a projectile and explodes.

The Pentagon has informed Congress, in a notice, that Trump has determined the United States to be engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels — a move many experts have criticized.

Trump has also hinted that a “second phase” of this campaign will involve not only the destruction of vessels in international waters but also land operations, without elaborating further. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has claimed that the true aim of the U.S. campaign is to overthrow him. The Trump administration — which accuses Maduro of leading a drug network and describes him as a cartel leader — has doubled the bounty for his capture to $50 million.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition