US strike kills 11 'narco-terrorists' on boat in Caribbean Sea, claims Donald Trump

US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio said on X that the operation was carried out "in the southern Caribbean" and targeted a ship "that had left Venezuela."

Washington has deployed seven warships to the Caribbean as Donald Trump accuses his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro of running a drug trafficking network.

"On my orders, U.S. military forces conducted a kinetic bombardment against clearly identified Tren de Aragua narcoterrorists," Donald Trump said on his Truth Social network, referring to a major cartel originating in Venezuela.

The strike took place while the ship was "in international waters, carrying narcotics, bound for the United States," he added. "The strike killed 11 terrorists."

"A lot of drugs"

The US president accompanied his message with a video showing a small boat hit by a powerful explosion. AFP was not immediately able to verify the identity of the people on board the boat.

The Tren de Aragua is a Venezuelan criminal organization established in several countries and classified as a terrorist organization by Donald Trump.

Seven US ships, including three amphibious assault ships, are present in the Caribbean, and another in the Pacific, as part of the fight against drug trafficking, a US military official said.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said Tuesday evening that the US deployment was actually intended "to intimidate people and try to overthrow governments."

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who is living in hiding, said that "there is little time left before Venezuela is free," without explicitly referring to the US strike.

"Every day that passes strengthens the stranglehold that Western democrats have imposed on the narco-terrorist cartel that continues to occupy" the seat of the Venezuelan government, she warned in a video broadcast at an opposition rally in Panama.

"Armed struggle"

In Miami, Marco Rubio told reporters of Donald Trump's determination to use "all the power" of the United States to "eradicate" the drug cartels.

"The time when one could act with impunity and be content to destroy an aircraft or seize a few drugs from a boat is over," insisted this fervent critic of Nicolas Maduro, and more generally of left-wing leaders in Latin America.

The Secretary of State, however, refrained from threatening the Venezuelan president, on whose head Washington has placed a price, with new measures directly targeting him.

Asked by journalists about a possible operation against Nicolas Maduro on Venezuelan soil, Marco Rubio simply replied: "It is an operation to fight drug trafficking."

On the Venezuelan side, the Minister of Communication and Information attacked the video released by Donald Trump, which he said was fabricated.

"Rubio continues to lie to his president (...) he now gives him as 'proof' a video generated by AI (artificial intelligence, editor's note)," Freddy Ñañez said on his Telegram account.

On Monday, Nicolas Maduro denounced the "threat" of "eight American ships" and a submarine "targeting Venezuela" and invoked the risk of an American landing and "regime change."

Venezuela is ready for "armed struggle to defend its national territory," he said, although the United States has never openly threatened to invade his country.

For its part, the Dominican Republic declared the Cartel de los Soles, the drug trafficking network led, according to the United States, by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a "terrorist organization" on Tuesday.

The Trump administration presents the fight against drug trafficking as one of its major priorities, accusing the Venezuelan government of running a massive network. Recently, US authorities even raised the reward to $50 million for any information leading to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro.