U.S. President Donald Trump said three anti-drug strikes have been conducted in the southern Caribbean targeting what he described as ‘confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela’.
Trump announced the strikes on his Truth Social account, sharing a video of the second deadly attack, which, together with the first, has killed 14 suspected traffickers.
But Trump later revealed that the campaign had gone further than initially reported. “We knocked off, actually three boats, not two, but you saw two,” he said in a video posted on the Daily Mail’s website on Tuesday. The President did not specify how many people were killed in the third strike.
On Monday, he shared some details on the second strike: “This morning, on my Orders, US Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility. The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the US.”
“These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to U.S. National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital US Interests,” he added. “The Strike resulted in 3 male terrorists killed in action. No US Forces were harmed in this Strike.”
Less than two weeks ago, 11 men, suspected to be from the Tren de Aragua gang, were killed.
The White House and Pentagon have framed the operations as part of an escalating campaign against “narcoterrorists”, signaling the administration will continue using military force to eliminate them.
The unfolding U.S. military action takes place amid a long-standing border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over the vast Essequibo territory (approximately 160,000 km²), rich in oil and gas. Tensions had already been elevated following an incursion by a Venezuelan coast guard vessel into Guyanese waters near the ExxonMobil-operated Stabroek Block, prompting Guyana to lodge formal protests and the U.S. to warn Venezuela against any attack on Guyanese sovereignty.
