The United States military conducted a deadly strike against a drug-carrying vessel in the southern Caribbean Tuesday, killing 11 suspected Tren de Aragua gang members in what President Donald Trump called a warning to narcoterrorists.
Trump announced the operation during a Tuesday afternoon Oval Office event, telling reporters the military had “literally shot out a boat, a drug carrying boat” moments earlier. “A lot of drugs in that boat,” Trump said, adding that his team was briefed by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The president later posted video of the strike on Truth Social, showing black-and-white aerial footage of a small speedboat with multiple outboard motors exploding in flames. “Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Trump wrote.
🚨 🔥Venezuela Drug Traffickers Annihilated
Trump Just Put Venezuela on Notice ‼️🔥
I used to do Counter Narcotics deployments in the US Navy. My first deployment I was a VBSS Team member. There were strict rules of Force.
We would take out their outboard engines at the most.… pic.twitter.com/0e0DfZVnP0
— Joshua Reid | Redpills.tv (@realjoshuareid) September 2, 2025
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the “lethal strike” occurred against “a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization.” The Pentagon called it a precision strike.
The vessel was struck while “at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States,” according to Trump’s statement. No U.S. forces were harmed in the operation.
The boat was operated by Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organization the State Department designated as a foreign terrorist organization in February.
“TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere,” Trump posted.
The strike represents the first known military attack against alleged drug smugglers since Trump ordered increased U.S. naval presence in the Caribbean last month. At least eight warships are currently deployed in the region, including the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group carrying approximately 2,000 Marines.
Traditional counter-narcotics efforts involve Coast Guard interdictions rather than military strikes.
“The days of acting with impunity and having an engine shot down or a couple drugs grabbed off a boat — those days are over,” Rubio told reporters. “Now it is, we are going to wage combat against drug cartels that are flooding America’s streets and killing Americans.”
Tren de Aragua originated more than a decade ago in a Venezuelan prison and has expanded across Latin America as millions of Venezuelans fled economic collapse. The gang has been linked to violence and drug trafficking in several U.S. cities.