Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday that American forces carried out a second strike on what he described as a Venezuelan drug trafficking vessel, leaving three people dead. The action comes only weeks after a previous strike killed 11 people, sparking new tensions between Washington and Caracas.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the “kinetic strike” was aimed at violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists operating in the U.S. Southern Command region. He also shared a video of a boat exploding at sea, declaring that such groups pose a direct threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.
The Venezuelan government has strongly condemned the attacks, accusing the U.S. of targeting innocent fishing boats. Officials in Caracas argue that these strikes are killing civilians and harming the country’s fishing industry, which is already under pressure due to economic challenges and sanctions. Human rights groups and critics have also raised concerns, calling the killings extrajudicial and warning that suspects should face trial instead of being executed abroad.
Observers say the U.S. military has a history of misidentifying vessels, raising the risk that civilians could be among the dead. Questions are also being asked about why the alleged traffickers were not captured in U.S. waters, where evidence could be presented in court.
Despite the criticism, Trump doubled down on his warning to drug cartels, writing in all caps: “BE WARNED, IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!” When pressed by reporters for evidence that the vessel was carrying narcotics, Trump claimed that cocaine and fentanyl were found in the wreckage, although the video he shared did not clearly show drugs on board.
