US Strikes Alleged Tren de Aragua Narco Boat in the Caribbean

Written on 10/24/2025
Luis Felipe Mendoza
The U.S. military struck a boat overnight that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said was operated by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Credit: NATO / CC BY NC ND 2.0

The United States military struck a boat in the Caribbean overnight that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said was operated by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The strike, the 10th strike on suspected drug-running vessels in the region, reportedly killed six people.

Hegseth said in a social media post late Thursday that the operation, ordered by President Donald Trump, occurred in international waters and targeted a vessel the Pentagon believes was “involved in the illicit smuggling of narcotics, transited a known drug-trafficking route and carried drugs.” He called those aboard “narco-terrorists” and vowed the United States would pursue and kill suspected traffickers “day or NIGHT.”

The Pentagon has not released evidence publicly to back up its assertion that the boat was carrying narcotics or that the people aboard were linked to the Tren de Aragua, an organization the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

US strikes alleged narco boat linked to Tren de Aragua

A 20-second black-and-white video posted by the Department of War shows a small boat apparently stationary on the water before a long, thin projectile descends and triggers an explosion. The clip ends shortly after the blast, before the wreckage is clearly visible.

The strike comes as the Trump administration has dramatically stepped up the use of U.S. military assets in the Caribbean and beyond in its “war” against drug trafficking and drug cartels. The push has included strikes on fast boats and a semi-submersible, and more recently expanded into the eastern Pacific, as well as bombers flying near the coast of Venezuela. Officials say a series of recent operations has accelerated from roughly one every few weeks to multiple actions in recent days.

The pace of those attacks has alarmed some lawmakers and foreign governments. The latest operations, which the Pentagon says are aimed at disrupting cocaine shipments bound for the United States, have left at least 43 people dead since early September, according to an Associated Press tally.

Nicolas Maduro says the US strikes aim at toppling his regime 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denounced the strikes as aggression and accused Washington of seeking regime change. He ordered coastal defenses and civilian militias to positions along Venezuela’s shoreline, saying the country had covered its entire coast in real time with forces and equipment “to defend all of Venezuela’s coasts if necessary.”

“The attacks and an unusually large U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off Venezuela have raised speculation that the administration could try to topple Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro,” the AP reported, citing the growing show of force that has included long-range bomber flights and an influx of naval and air assets.

The U.S. military has described recent bomber flights as demonstrations and training missions, and officials emphasize that the aircraft remained in international airspace. Still, the buildup has intensified diplomatic tensions in the region, with Colombian and Venezuelan leaders bristling at the operations and the Trump administration accusing both governments of tolerating or facilitating drug trafficking.

The Trump administration has taken an aggressive legal and rhetorical stance, declaring that the United States is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and labeling cartel members unlawful combatants. Trump himself told reporters this month he was prepared to use lethal force against those he says are bringing drugs into the country.

Critics in Congress and elsewhere have questioned the legal basis for strikes carried out without clear congressional authorization and with little public evidence. “We have no idea how far this is going, how this could potentially bring in, you know, is it going to be boots on the ground? Is it going to be escalatory in a way where we could see ourselves get bogged down for a long time?” Sen. Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, said in an interview.

But some supporters in Congress praised the administration’s tough posture. “It’s about time,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican from Florida, said regarding the strikes, adding that he would not want to be “in the shoes of any of these narco-cartels.”

The U.S. has acknowledged that at least two people survived an earlier strike on a semi-submersible vessel and were taken aboard a U.S. Navy ship; those individuals were later repatriated to their home countries, the Pentagon said previously. Officials maintain the operations are aimed at disrupting trafficking networks and preventing drugs from reaching U.S. shores. International observers, however, say the actions risk escalating regional tensions and could be perceived as overreach.

As reported by the AF Post, a White House official reportedly said that Trump will coordinate with Congress on Caribbean and Venezuela strikes “when Maduro’s corpse is in US custody.”