
Two people have reportedly survived a US military attack on a vessel allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela and are being held aboard a Navy ship in the Caribbean, according to unnamed US officials cited by American media.

US President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth publicly confirmed and defended the recent attacks on vessels in the Caribbean Sea, escalating the administration's war on drugs by characterizing the cartels as narco-terrorists and the operations as acts of war.

The US Government of President Donald Trump has signaled five countries - three of them in South America - for failing to comply with their international anti-drug obligations over the past 12 months. In addition to Venezuela, Colombia, and Bolivia, Washington added Burma and Afghanistan to the infamous list.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a “kinetic strike” on a vessel from Venezuela that was allegedly transporting illegal narcotics. The attack, the first of its kind since the US deployed warships to the southern Caribbean, resulted in the deaths of 11 people.

Former Colombian Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva caused an international uproar when he published a letter saying President Gustavo Petro has a drug addiction problem. He insisted he noticed the matter during a joint official trip to France in 2023.

Customs officials in Antwerp, Belgium seized some 547 kilos of cocaine inside a container with rice that left the port of Montevideo. The catch took place at the end of February and involved the vessel Grande Nigeria, belonging to the Grimaldi Group, according to Uruguayan prosecution sources.

A report by the Washington-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) indicates strong concern with the increasing number of Chinese-operated ports in Latin America, fearing an increase in criminal networks and the trafficking of illicit goods and smuggling.

Three people have been arrested in Argentina in connection with the death of British pop musician Liam Payne. Prosecutors are charging them with various crimes, including the abandonment of a person followed by death, in addition to the supply and facilitation of narcotics.

Investigators in Buenos Aires believed VIP drug dealers for the rich and famous played a part in the death of pop music star Liam Payne in the Argentine capital this week. According to a post-mortem, the former One Direction singer fell from the balcony of a hotel in the Palermo district, which caused hemorrhages. Payne had been in Argentina since appearing at a concert by former bandmate Niall Horan on Oct. 2.

The discovery of cocaine and other hard drugs shipments to Europe from South American Atlantic ports is not new and despite all efforts, the network of contacts coupled with ingenious methods to adapt to circumstances and obviously a notorious degree of corruption, keeps information flowing.