WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military attacked a vessel from Venezuela in the Caribbean on Tuesday that was carrying illegal drugs, officials said, in the first known operation since the Trump administration’s recent surge of warships to the region.
President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House: “We just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat.”
“And there’s more where that came from. We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, coming in for a long time … These came out of Venezuela,” Trump said. He said the Pentagon would soon be providing further details.
The U.S. military had no immediate comment, and it was unclear how the strike was carried out. The Venezuelan Communications Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United States has deployed warships in the southern Caribbean with the aim of following through on Trump’s pledge to crack down on drug cartels.
Tuesday’s strike appeared to be the first such military operation in the region to that effect, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the boat that was targeted had been operated by a drug-trafficking group that Washington had designated as a terrorist organization.
“The U.S. military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization,” Rubio posted on X.
Although Rubio called it a lethal strike, the Trump administration did not immediately confirm whether anyone was killed.
Seven U.S. warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, are either in the region or expected to be there soon, bringing along more than 4,500 sailors and Marines.
While U.S. Coast Guard and Navy ships regularly operate in the Southern Caribbean, the current buildup exceeds the usual deployments in the region.
In the naval force are warships, including USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima, and USS Fort Lauderdale. Some can carry aerial assets like helicopters while others can also deploy Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The U.S. military has also been flying P-8 spy planes in the region to gather intelligence, U.S. officials have said. They have been flying over international waters.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; additional reporting by Vivian Sequera in Caracas; Writing by Phil Stewart; Editing by Howard Goller and Rosalba O’Brien)
