Overview
- Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced a lethal strike on a small vessel in the eastern Pacific, saying four crew were killed and the boat was on a known narcotics route in international waters.
- U.S. military figures now attribute 61 deaths and the destruction of 15 boats to operations conducted since early September across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said his forces detained mercenaries he linked to the CIA over an alleged plot against a U.S. ship in Trinidad and Tobago.
- Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro rejected Secretary of State Marco Rubio as an interlocutor, as France voiced concern and U.S. Southern Command reported joint exercises in Panama.
- Human-rights groups and regional governments condemn the actions as possible extrajudicial killings and violations of maritime law, and President Trump has not ruled out expanding strikes to land targets in Venezuela and Colombia.