Tensions between the US and Venezuela are escalating. Days after sending US gunboats to South American waters, President Trump said on Tuesday that the US Navy attacked a ship in the southern Caribbean that was carrying what he described as a Venezuelan drug shipment.
Trump told reporters during an event in the Oval Office that the operation happened “in the last minutes, (we) literally shot at a boat, a boat loaded with drugs, a lot of drugs on that boat”.
A few moments later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted a confirmation, calling it a “lethal attack” against a ship operated by a “designated narco-terrorist organization”.
In a later post on Truth Social about the operation, Trump said that 11 people were killed, calling them “terrorists,” claiming they were members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang. He included a video in the post labeled as “unclassified” showing an attack on a small speedboat with four outboard motors.
The attack on the ship comes amid the Trump administration’s increasingly confrontational stance toward the Venezuelan regime. Washington accuses Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a drug cartel and has placed a $50 million bounty on his head. Then, just over a week ago, the US sent warships—including the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group—to waters off the Venezuelan coast in a significant show of force.
Maduro claims that the US military buildup is a sign that Washington is trying to overthrow the Venezuelan government. In response, Maduro declared “maximum preparedness” in the country, saying that 4.5 million militia members are ready to ensure that “no empire will touch the sacred soil of Venezuela.” The state TV network Telesur has aired extensive coverage featuring Venezuelans—including fishermen and ordinary citizens—called up for military service.
Maduro was inaugurated for a third six-year term as Venezuela’s president in January 2025, following an election widely criticized as fraudulent. Maduro used Washington’s latest show of force to draw both domestic and international attention. The Venezuelan government had not responded to the US attack or President Trump’s claims before publication.
During Trump’s first term, US warships were also sent to the region, with little impact. Former US Ambassador to Venezuela James Story, who previously worked on counternarcotics issues at the State Department, told NPR that the current administration’s policy toward Venezuela was inconsistent. In July, for example, the US renewed a license allowing American oil company Chevron to operate there.
Source: npr.org