The U.S. military carried out another lethal strike on a boat in the Caribbean suspected of drug trafficking, killing four people on board, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Friday. The incident marks the fourth deadly operation in recent weeks under President Donald Trump’s declaration of an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
According to Hegseth, the strike took place early Friday off the coast of Venezuela and targeted what officials described as a “narco-trafficking vessel” operating in the U.S. Southern Command’s (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility. “Earlier this morning, on President Trump’s orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with designated terrorist organizations,” Hegseth said in a post on X.
He added that the boat was “transporting substantial amounts of narcotics headed to America to poison our people,” and insisted the intelligence behind the operation was conclusive. “Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route. These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over,” Hegseth wrote.
The strike is part of a broader campaign launched by the Trump administration after the president formally designated several Latin American drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations earlier this year. Since then, U.S. forces have conducted multiple military actions targeting alleged cartel-linked vessels in the Caribbean, resulting in at least 21 deaths.
A classified notice sent to Congress this week and obtained by The New York Times revealed that Trump has formally informed lawmakers the United States is now engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. The document sought to provide legal justification for the series of strikes, which the White House has described as acts of national self-defense.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly defended the operations, saying the president acted “in line with the law of armed conflict” to counter threats to U.S. security. “The President is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans,” Kelly said.
However, legal and human rights experts have condemned the campaign, warning that the use of military force against civilian vessels in international waters may violate international law. Critics argue that the attacks amount to extrajudicial killings and risk escalating tensions in the region.
Despite the controversy, administration officials have indicated that the strikes will continue as part of Trump’s broader effort to frame drug trafficking as a national security issue rather than a law enforcement matter.