MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US strike kills six on Caribbean boat

So far, 43 alleged drug traffickers have been killed by US operations north of South America

The US military conducted a “lethal kinetic strike” on a vessel in international waters overnight Thursday, killing six people described as “narco-terrorists,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Friday.

The vessel was allegedly operated by the Venezuelan transnational criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TdA) and was interdicted in the Caribbean Sea as part of a campaign the Republican administration of President Donald Trump claims is aimed at eliminating narcotics trafficking from Venezuela and Colombia.

“If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda,” Hegseth wrote on X, vowing to continue to “hunt down” and “kill” more alleged traffickers. He confirmed that all six individuals aboard the TdA vessel were killed and no US forces were harmed.

The strike marks the tenth such operation conducted by the US military against alleged drug runners, bringing the reported total killed in international waters to 43. It also follows two other strikes conducted this week.

The lethal strike follows an announcement that the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is being deployed to the Caribbean Sea, nearly doubling the US naval presence in the region.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated that the enhanced force will “bolster US capacity to detect, monitor and disrupt illicit actors and activities.”

President Trump recently touted the military’s counter-narcotics efforts as a “great success,” claiming the flow of seaborne drugs has fallen to “like 5% of what they were a year ago.”

Trump warned that action on “land is going to be next,” without providing details. He has designated several transnational gangs, including TdA, as terrorist organizations.

Both the Venezuelan and Colombian governments have strongly rejected the US claims, interpreting the military operations as an attempt at resource grabbing rather than a genuine anti-smuggling effort.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro stated that the US operation “is not about drug trafficking... they need oil [and] gas,” referring to his country's vast energy and mineral reserves.

The Trump administration has accused Maduro of profiting from drug smuggling and has raised the reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest to US$50 million. The administration is also reportedly considering authorizing strikes inside Venezuela to weaken Maduro's government.