The U.S. military carried out its fourth strike in recent weeks against a suspected drug-trafficking vessel near Venezuela, President Trump said Friday, marking an escalation in his administration’s campaign to choke off narcotics flowing toward the United States, Axios reported.
Trump announced that U.S. forces attacked a vessel in international waters under the Southern Command’s authority, alleging it was tied to a designated terrorist group. He said the operation killed three “narcoterrorists” and that no American personnel were harmed.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage en route to poison Americans,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, where he also posted a video of the strike. He added in all caps: “STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA, AND COMMITTING VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICANS!!!”
The strike was the latest in a broader Trump administration effort that has deployed a flotilla of seven U.S. warships, including three guided-missile destroyers, an attack submarine, and more than 4,500 personnel, to waters near Venezuela.
Officials say the mission’s stated purpose is drug interdiction, but internal debates suggest wider objectives.
“This is 105% about narco-terrorism, but if Maduro winds up no longer in power, no one will be crying,” one administration official said, referring to Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Another official compared the buildup to “Noriega part 2,” citing the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989 to remove then-leader Manuel Noriega on drug charges.
In August, the Justice Department announced a $50 million reward for the arrest of Maduro, who was first indicted during Trump’s earlier term for allegedly running the Cartel de los Soles, a drug network that U.S. officials recently labeled a terrorist group.
Administration insiders have not ruled out military escalation, with one official saying the president has asked for “a menu of options.”
The deployment also includes 2,200 Marines, raising questions about whether the buildup is limited to drug enforcement. “Leaving Maduro in power in Venezuela is like making Jeffrey Epstein the head of a daycare,” another Trump adviser said.
Maduro responded by calling the U.S. actions “immoral, criminal, and illegal” and urged Venezuelans to join militias to prepare for what he described as an imminent invasion. Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a leftist ally, dismissed U.S. claims about the Cartel de los Soles as a fabrication by the “extreme right” and said he was reinforcing Colombian troops along the border.
Oil remains another factor driving U.S. policy.
Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven reserves, and Trump has both eased sanctions to allow Chevron to resume pumping and tightened pressure by labeling Maduro a terrorist. His policy mix has puzzled regional observers, though aides say it reflects the influence of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a longtime critic of socialist regimes in Latin America.
While officials caution that a ground invasion remains unlikely, they predict more maritime interdictions and possibly targeted airstrikes on suspected cartel sites. As one official put it: “Some boats will definitely be caught or sunk.”
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