US forces strike a fourth boat in the Caribbean

American forces in the Caribbean struck a fourth boat in the sea this morning, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, killing four people on board. 

“Earlier this morning, on President Trump’s orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Hegseth announced in a post on X. 

The attack comes after the Trump administration said that the United States is in “a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations,” referring to drug cartels. A memo from the administration to Congress, obtained and first reported on by the Associated Press, referred to those killed as “unlawful combatants.” 

The secretary said that the Friday morning strike happened in international waters, near Venezuelan territory, and the strike killed four men onboard the boat. Video shared in that same post showed a speedboat moving through the water when it is hit by a munition and explodes. 

It’s the fourth attack on a boat sailing through the Caribbean since Sept. 2, when American forces struck a ship carrying 11 people. Two more attacks on boats followed later that month. The strikes in September killed a total of 17 people, according to figures from the Trump administration. Today’s strike brings the total number of people killed by American airstrikes in the Caribbean to 21. Today Hegseth said that strikes will continue “until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!”

U.S. forces have carried out previous strikes — some via drones — without presenting public evidence the ships were containing drugs. In his statement, Hegseth claimed that American “intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route.” None of the intelligence was shared.

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Despite the use of lethal strikes targeting alleged drug trafficking vessels, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard have also continued normal interdiction and searches. 

The U.S. and Venezuela have not had direct confrontations, although Venezuelan fighters buzzed past the USS Jason Dunham last month. This week the Venezuelan government accused American fighter jets of an “incursion,” saying they were spotted 75 kilometers (46 miles) off of Venezuela’s coast; that is outside of Venezuelan airspace.

The United States designated certain cartels, including ones linked to Venezuela, as “foreign terrorist organizations” earlier this year. In August the United States started moving several ships and aircraft into the Caribbean, including an amphibious ready group carrying a Marine Expeditionary Unit, several warships, multiple F-35 fighter jets and at least two MQ-9 Reaper drones.