U.S. conducts ‘lethal strike’ on alleged drug vessel in Caribbean

U.S. forces conducted a “lethal strike” on a vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea, the Trump administration said Tuesday, a dramatic escalation that coincides with the Pentagon’s growing counternarcotics focus in Latin America.

Speaking in the Oval Office during a wide-ranging news conference, President Donald Trump described the target as a “drug boat” from Venezuela. He said: “A lot of things are coming out of Venezuela. So we took it out.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed news of the strike in a post on social media as his plane prepared to take off from Miami to Mexico City on a previously planned diplomatic trip.

“As @potus just announced moments ago, today the U.S. military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Carribean [sic] against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization,” Rubio wrote on X.

The circumstances surrounding the attack were not immediately clear, though it appeared to mark the first known time the Trump administration used deadly force to target illicit drug shipments originating in Latin America. Upon entering office in January, Trump signed an executive order designating drug cartels and other groups as foreign terrorist organizations.

A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the operation, confirmed the U.S. military had carried out “a precision strike” but declined to elaborate.

“More information will be made available at a later time,” this person said.

There are eight U.S. Navy ships, including three destroyers, assigned the Pentagon’s rapidly expanding counternarcotics mission in Latin America. The deployment also includes two landing dock ships, an amphibious assault ship, a cruiser and a littoral combat ship. The destroyers each are carrying detachments of U.S. Coast Guard personnel and law enforcement officials.

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Hudson reported from Miami.