{"id":14839,"date":"2025-09-26T21:22:48","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T21:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=14839"},"modified":"2025-09-26T21:22:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T21:22:48","slug":"trump-provides-details-after-u-s-strike-on-venezuelan-cartel-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=14839","title":{"rendered":"Trump Provides Details After U.S. Strike On Venezuelan Cartel Boat"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the United States carried out a military strike on a speedboat carrying narcotics, killing 11 members of Venezuela\u2019s Tren de Aragua cartel in what officials called a major escalation in the war on drugs.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The strike marked the first lethal operation against cartel traffickers at sea, signaling a shift in how the United States intends to confront narcotics networks, the New York Times\u00a0reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During a White House press conference, Trump gave few details but later released a statement on Truth Social.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier 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,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cTDA 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/div>\n

\u201cThe strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States. The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s post included a video showing a speedboat racing across the water before an explosion destroyed it.<\/p>\n

A senior U.S. official confirmed that either a Special Operations helicopter or an MQ-9 Reaper drone carried out the strike. The target had been under surveillance for weeks. A second official confirmed that additional strikes are planned.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the past, U.S. missions focused on interdictions, seizures, and criminal cases.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s strike represented a sharp break from those tactics, using direct military force instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president is very clear that he\u2019s going to use the full power of America, the full might of the United States, to take on and eradicate these drug cartels, no matter where they\u2019re operating from, and no matter how long they\u2019ve been able to act with impunity,\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio said before departing Florida for Mexico.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/div>\n

Rubio, however, suggested the boat was likely bound for Trinidad or another Caribbean nation rather than the United States.<\/p>\n

The strike followed a military buildup in the southern Caribbean after Trump signed a directive in July authorizing the Pentagon to use force against Latin American cartels designated as terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n

Around the same time, the administration declared Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist group and accused Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro of leading it.<\/p>\n

U.S. Navy warships have since moved into the region.<\/p>\n

In response, Maduro deployed millions of militia members and vowed to defend his country \u201cfrom any incursions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He accused Washington of creating a false narrative to justify intervention.<\/p>\n

On Monday, he warned he would \u201cconstitutionally declare a republic in arms\u201d if U.S. forces attacked Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Named for the sun insignia worn by Venezuelan generals, the cartel was first linked to Hugo Ch\u00e1vez.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For decades, prosecutors said, it worked with Colombia\u2019s FARC guerrillas to move tons of cocaine from Venezuela to the United States, both for profit and to harm American communities.<\/p>\n

Former Venezuelan intelligence chief Hugo Carvajal pleaded guilty to narco-terrorism conspiracy in June.\u00a0 Charges remain pending against Maduro and other senior figures, including Diosdado Cabello.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Trump pointed to the strike as proof of his resolve to stop narcotics before they reach U.S. shores.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you leave the room, you\u2019ll see that we just, over the last few minutes, literally, shot a boat \u2014 a drug-carrying boat,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n

He added that the vessel had \u201ca lot of drugs\u201d on board.<\/p>\n

For the administration, the strike was both a tactical success and a warning to cartels across the hemisphere. And for Trump, it was a vivid demonstration of his pledge to confront what he calls \u201cnarco-terrorists\u201d with the full power of the U.S. military.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the United States carried out a military strike on a speedboat carrying narcotics, killing 11 members of Venezuela\u2019s Tren de Aragua cartel in what … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14841,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14839\/revisions\/14841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}