President Donald Trump introduced Tuesday that U.S. forces had carried out a deadly maritime strike in opposition to narcotics traffickers tied to Venezuela, killing 11 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang in worldwide waters.
“Earlier this morning, on my orders, U.S. Navy Forces carried out a kinetic strike in opposition to positively recognized Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists within the SOUTHCOM space of accountability,” Trump mentioned in his Fact Social account. “TDA is a chosen Overseas Terrorist Group, working beneath the management of Nicolás Maduro, liable for mass homicide, drug trafficking, intercourse trafficking, and acts of violence and terror throughout america and Western Hemisphere.”
The president mentioned that the strike occurred whereas “the terrorists have been at sea in worldwide waters transporting unlawful narcotics, heading to america. The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in motion. No U.S. Forces have been harmed on this strike. Please let this function discover to anyone even serious about bringing medication into america of America.”
The president’s publish was accompanied by a black and white video apparently taken with evening imaginative and prescient gear of a quick boat touring with various occupants earlier than all of the sudden exploding and bursting into flames.
The video and the president’s remarks expanded on the feedback he made earlier throughout a press convention, the place he informed reporters that U.S. forces had destroyed a drug-laden vessel popping out of Venezuela. On the time, he credited the navy management of the Joint Chiefs of Workers and framed the incident as a part of a broader marketing campaign in opposition to narcotics trafficking. “We now have a whole lot of medication pouring into our nation—coming in for a very long time. These got here out of Venezuela, and [they’re] popping out very closely,” Trump mentioned.
The strike comes amid a significant U.S. naval buildup within the southern Caribbean, the place eight warships—together with three amphibious assault ships, a nuclear-powered submarine and surveillance plane—have been deployed to disrupt cartel exercise. The pressure contains about 4,500 sailors and Marines, amongst them a rapid-response expeditionary unit of two,200 troops.
The San Antonio, Iwo Jima and Fort Lauderdale are stationed alongside three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers—the Sampson, Jason Dunham and Gravely—armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, superior air defenses and anti-submarine weapons. Navy officers say the mixed strike group not solely interdicts traffickers at sea but additionally supplies the capability to land Marines ashore, if ordered.
The Trump administration has more and more folded its counter-narcotics technique into its marketing campaign to isolate the Venezuelan authorities. Earlier this 12 months, america designated the Tren de Aragua and different cartels as international terrorist organizations, granting businesses expanded authority to freeze belongings, disrupt financing and goal leaders.
The U.S. has additionally labeled Venezuela’s Cartel of the Suns—an alleged trafficking community involving Maduro and senior navy officers—a “Specifically Designated World Terrorist” entity. Prosecutors have indicted Maduro on conspiracy fees, accusing him of turning Venezuela right into a narco-state, and the State Division has positioned a $50 million bounty on his seize.
Maduro has rejected the U.S. allegations, calling them a pretext for regime change. In response to the newest naval deployments, he vowed to mobilize militias to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty, elevating fears of a direct conflict between U.S. forces and Venezuelan safety models within the area.
The lethal strike marks one of the vital aggressive U.S. navy actions but tied to the administration’s counter-cartel technique—underscoring Washington’s willingness to deal with Maduro’s felony networks as battlefield adversaries.
The president didn’t present particulars in regards to the time or location of the assault.
In a short assertion issued by way of his X account, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that the U.S. navy had “carried out a deadly strike within the southern Caribbean in opposition to a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a chosen narco-terrorist group.”
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