- Trump-directed lethal strikes target cartel-linked vessels, branding gangs like Tren de Aragua as "narco-terrorists" and escalating maritime operations.
- Administration invokes counterterrorism legal theory, treating cartels as unlawful combatants and authorizing strikes without congressional war declaration.
- Actions draw fierce domestic and international backlash—legal, human-rights, and diplomatic concerns over extrajudicial killings and potential regional conflict.
WASHINGTON — In a stark demonstration of President Donald Trump’s push against Latin American drug networks, the U.S. military carried out its 10th lethal strike on a suspected smuggling vessel overnight, killing six alleged “narco-terrorists” in international waters of the Caribbean Sea.
The operation, the first conducted under cover of darkness, targeted a boat linked to Venezuela’s notorious Tren de Aragua gang, which the Trump administration has branded a designated terrorist organization.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike early Friday on social media, posting infrared footage from the Department of War that captured the vessel moments before it erupted in flames and debris.
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“Overnight, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea,” Hegseth wrote.
He emphasized that intelligence had confirmed the boat was “involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” with all six men aboard confirmed dead and no harm to American forces.
This latest action brings the total death toll from the campaign to at least 43 since Trump returned to the White House in January, with two survivors reported from earlier hits.
Details Leading up to the Mission
What began as sporadic interdictions in September has accelerated dramatically — three strikes this week alone — reflecting the administration’s vow to treat drug cartels not as mere criminals, but as existential threats akin to global terror groups.
The footage released by Hegseth shows the boat gliding through choppy waters under infrared glow, followed by a sudden burst of fire and smoke scattering across the sea.
It’s a grim visual echo of previous operations, where similar videos have been shared by both Hegseth and Trump on platforms like X and Truth Social to underscore the administration’s resolve.
“If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat al Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you,” Hegseth added in his post, drawing a direct parallel to post-9/11 counterterrorism tactics.
Trump has positioned this campaign as a cornerstone of his domestic agenda, framing the flow of fentanyl and other narcotics as an “armed attack” on American soil.
In a White House roundtable with Homeland Security officials on Thursday, he dismissed calls for congressional approval of broader military action, saying bluntly, “I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We’re going to kill them, you know? They’re going to be like, dead.”
The president has declared major cartels “unlawful combatants,” invoking a legal theory that places the U.S. in a “non-international armed conflict” with these groups — a stance detailed in a classified memo to Congress earlier this month.
The strikes trace back to September 2, when the first operation sank a Tren de Aragua-linked boat, killing 11 suspects and igniting a firestorm of debate.
Trump announced it personally on Truth Social, calling the targets “positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists” under the control of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Subsequent hits have followed a pattern: rapid intelligence assessments, missile or drone strikes from naval assets, and public video releases.
By mid-October, the focus had shifted to include Colombia’s ELN rebels, with a strike on October 19 killing three men accused of smuggling for the Marxist group — the first time the administration explicitly named them as targets.
This week marked a geographic pivot, with two deadly operations in the eastern Pacific off Colombia’s coast — the primary corridor for cocaine shipments to the U.S. On Tuesday, a strike killed two aboard a vessel Hegseth described as run by a “Designated Terrorist Organization”; hours later, another hit took out three more.
“These strikes will continue, day after day. These are not simply drug runners — these are narco-terrorists bringing death and destruction to our cities,” Hegseth posted after the Pacific actions.
A Win in the War Against Drugs or Brewing Conflict?
In a nod to escalation, the Pentagon simultaneously dispatched the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to U.S. Southern Command to “bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors,” according to spokesperson Sean Parnell.
Supporters, including Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton, have hailed the operations as a “justified show of force” against groups poisoning American communities with fentanyl, which claims over 100,000 lives annually.
Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa, battling his own gang wars, has voiced support for the U.S. efforts.
Yet the backlash has been fierce, crossing borders and aisles.
On Capitol Hill, bipartisan unease simmers. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has decried the lack of due process, citing Coast Guard data that innocent vessels often get flagged in trafficking probes.
“If the administration plans to engage in a war with Venezuela, it must seek a declaration of war from Congress,” Paul argued in a recent interview.
Democrats like Sens. Adam Schiff and Tim Kaine pushed — and failed — to halt the boat campaign via legislation last month, warning of overreach without legislative buy-in.
Internationally, the strikes have strained alliances. Colombian President Gustavo Petro, locked in a public feud with Trump over tariffs and narcotics blame, condemned the Pacific hits as “murder” that “breaks the norms of international law.”
He claims one earlier strike killed an innocent fisherman from a “humble family,” disputing U.S. ties to the ELN, and has demanded a criminal probe into Trump and his officials.
Maduro, meanwhile, accuses Washington of fabricating pretexts for regime change, threatening a state of emergency amid U.S. naval buildup.
Human rights advocates and UN experts have piled on, labeling the tactics “extrajudicial executions” that violate the right to life.
“International law does not allow governments to simply murder alleged drug traffickers,” a group of UN special rapporteurs stated after the September strikes, urging rule-of-law prosecutions over lethal force.
Human Rights Watch echoed this, calling the killings of at least 14 in early operations “unlawful” and warning of broader abuses under the “narco-terrorist” banner.
Legal scholars question the terrorist designation’s stretch — profit-driven gangs aren’t ideological foes like al Qaeda — and doubt it grants kill authority without imminent threats.
As the carrier group steams south, Trump hinted at land-based escalation Thursday: “Now they [drugs] are coming in by land … you know, the land is going to be next.”
With no end in sight and tensions boiling, these maritime blasts — once confined to shadowy interdictions — are reshaping U.S. foreign policy in the hemisphere, one fireball at a time.
Whether they curb the cartels or ignite wider conflict remains an open, perilous question.
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