On Friday, President Donald Trump revealed via Truth Social that he had authorized a deadly attack on a vessel suspected of being connected to a recognized terrorist group involved in drug trafficking within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Southern Command.
According to Trump, the strike targeted a boat identified by intelligence as carrying illegal drugs, resulting in the deaths of three narco-terrorists. He shared a video capturing the moment the boat was hit and burst into flames.
“Under my directives, the Secretary of War coordinated a lethal kinetic assault on a vessel linked to a designated terrorist entity engaged in drug smuggling in the USSOUTHCOM region,” Trump posted on Truth Social Friday night.
“Intelligence verified the vessel was transporting illegal drugs along a known trafficking route with the intent to harm Americans,” he added.
“Today, as per my instructions, U.S. Military Forces executed a SECOND kinetic strike targeting aggressively violent drug trafficking cartels and narco-terrorists within the SOUTHCOM’s operational area,” Trump announced on Truth Social this Monday.
Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president, during a press briefing at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 31, 2024. (Gaby Oraa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Earlier this month, a U.S. military strike blew apart a Venezuelan drug boat in the southern Caribbean, leaving nearly a dozen suspected Tren de Aragua narco-terrorists dead.
In February, the Trump administration also designated drug cartel groups like Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel and others as foreign terrorist organizations.
