Senior U.S. national security officials announced on Wednesday that military operations against cartels will continue, signalling a sustained campaign in Latin America despite unanswered questions about a deadly strike on a Venezuelan vessel.
The U.S. military killed 11 people on Tuesday in a strike on a vessel from Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal narcotics, in the first known operation since President Donald Trump’s recent deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean.
Little is known about the strike, including what legal justification was used or what drugs were on board, but U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said operations would continue.
“We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships, because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t stop with just this strike,” Hegseth said on FOX & Friends.
“Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco terrorist will face the same fate,” Hegseth said.
He declined to provide details on how the operation was carried out, saying they were classified. It is unknown whether the vessel was destroyed using a drone, torpedo, or by some other means.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Mexico City, said similar strikes will happen again.
“Maybe it’s happening right now, I don’t know, but the point is the president of the United States is going to wage war on narco terrorist organisations,” Rubio said.
Trump said on Tuesday, without providing evidence, that the U.S. military had identified the crew of the vessel as members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which Washington designated a terrorist group in February.
On Wednesday, he told reporters in the Oval Office that “massive amounts of drugs” were found on the boat.
“We have tapes of them speaking,” said Trump. “It was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people. And everybody fully understands that. In fact, you see it, you see the bags of drugs all over the boat,” Trump said.
The Pentagon has not released specifics about the crew nor why it chose to kill those on board.
Presidents of both major U.S. parties have in the past asserted the authority to use the military for limited strikes when there is a threat to the United States, as Trump did in June when he ordered an attack on Iran.
Rubio said that “a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl” was an immediate threat to the United States, adding that Trump had the right to “eliminate (it) under exigent circumstances.”
Mary Ellen O’Connell, an expert on international law and the use of force at the University of Notre Dame, said Tuesday’s operation “violated fundamental principles of international law.”
“The alleged fact that the attack was on the high seas is irrelevant. What is relevant is that the U.S. had no right to intentionally kill these suspects,” she said.
Maduro ‘Should Be Worried’
The decision to blow up a suspected drug vessel passing through the Caribbean, instead of seizing the vessel and apprehending its crew, is highly unusual and evokes memories of the U.S. fight against militant groups such as al Qaeda.
The United States has deployed warships in the southern Caribbean in recent weeks, with the aim of following through on a pledge by Trump to crack down on drug cartels.
Seven U.S. warships and one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine are either in the region or expected to be there soon, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines. U.S. Marines and sailors from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit have been carrying out amphibious training and flight operations in southern Puerto Rico.
Asked about Venezuela’s close relationship with China, Hegseth took aim at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“The only person that should be worried is Nicolas Maduro, who is … effectively a kingpin of a drug narco state,” Hegseth said.
The Trump administration last month doubled the reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro to $50 million, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups.
Venezuelan officials have said the Caribbean buildup is meant to justify an intervention against them, with Maduro accusing Trump of seeking “regime change.”
In an interview with Fox Noticias on Wednesday, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado supported the U.S. strike, saying the operation was “aimed at saving lives” in Venezuela and the United States.
“We have to be grateful that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and his administration recognise and act toward Maduro as what he is: the head of a narco-terrorist regime that has been responsible for destroying our country, destabilising the region, and becoming a real threat to the security of the United States,” Machado said. She was barred from running in the 2024 presidential election but is the country’s most popular opposition figure.
Authorities in the South American country, who say Tren de Aragua is no longer active there after being dismantled during a prison raid in 2023, suggested on Tuesday that footage shared by Trump of a speedboat at sea exploding and then burning was created with artificial intelligence.
Reuters conducted initial checks on the video, including a review of its visual elements using a manipulation detection tool that did not show evidence of manipulation. However, thorough verification is an ongoing process, and Reuters will continue to review the footage as more information becomes available.
The strike drew scepticism from some within the Venezuelan opposition.
“How did they know there were 11 people? Did they count them? How did they know they were Venezuelan? Were their ID cards floating on the sea afterwards?” former opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said to Reuters.
(With inputs from Reuters)
