Trump announces further US strike against Venezuelan drug boat

US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that the US military had destroyed another Venezuelan smuggling boat in the Caribbean. Three men were killed in the attack. According to Trump, the boat belonged to a drug cartel, but he did not provide any evidence. He spoke of sacks full of cocaine and fentanyl that had been scattered in the sea.

This is already the second incident of this kind within a few weeks. On September 2, the US military attacked a boat and killed eleven people. At the time, Washington claimed that those killed belonged to the “Tren de Aragua” gang. Again, there has been little independent confirmation of this.

The Department of Defense released a video purportedly showing an explosion at sea. Reuters examined the footage with an AI tool but could not detect any manipulation. Venezuela's government described the attacks as aggression and denies that the dead were drug traffickers. President Nicolás Maduro accused the US of wanting to overthrow him.

The latest strike comes during a period of massive US military presence in the southern Caribbean, with F-35 fighter jets, warships, and a nuclear submarine. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the US would “hunt down, kill, and dismantle drug traffickers' networks.”

(reuters, est)