Overview

• Trump announced a fifth maritime strike since September near Venezuelan waters, saying six suspected narcotraffickers were killed and bringing the reported death toll to 27.
• He confirmed authorizing CIA covert operations in Venezuela and said he is considering attacks on land, while declining to say whether the agency could target Nicolás Maduro.
• Caracas denies links to drug cartels, has activated the Independencia 200 plan and Zonas de Defensa Integral in multiple regions including Caracas and Miranda, and is taking its case to the UN Security Council.
• UN experts and rights groups question the legality of the lethal strikes as possible extrajudicial killings, while Congress rejected a move to require prior authorization and some lawmakers say no evidence has been shown to them.
• U.S. forces have deployed about 10,000 personnel with eight warships and a submarine in the Caribbean, largely staged from Puerto Rico, as Washington frames the campaign as a non‑international armed conflict against transnational criminal organizations.