Overview

• President Trump said Monday’s strike destroyed a boat in SOUTHCOM’s area and killed three people he labeled Venezuelan narcoterrorists, sharing video of the blast and debris he said showed cocaine and fentanyl.
• An earlier U.S. action on September 2 hit another vessel and, according to the administration, left eleven dead as Washington ramped up maritime counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean.
• Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro declared relations with the United States broken, accused Washington of preparing an attack, and has urged militia enlistment alongside deployments of 25,000 troops to border areas.
• U.S. officials accuse Maduro of overseeing a trafficking network and have doubled the reward for his capture to $50 million, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the strikes as certain and necessary.
• The U.S. has surged military assets including multiple warships and F‑35 fighters positioned in the region, while legal and political critics question the public evidence and the strikes’ lawfulness in international waters.