U.S. Releases Strike Video After Hitting Boat Near Venezuela, Killing Four

Overview

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said U.S. forces destroyed a suspected drug vessel in international waters off Venezuela and killed four men he labeled “narcoterrorists,” posting footage of the strike.
• President Donald Trump shared the video and asserted, without presenting evidence, that the boat carried drugs sufficient to kill between 25,000 and 50,000 people.
• A confidential notice to Congress states the U.S. considers itself in an armed conflict with designated cartel groups and treats suspects as unlawful combatants under the law of armed conflict.
• Friday’s action is part of a series of maritime strikes in the southern Caribbean that have left at least 21 people dead, according to official and media tallies.
• Venezuela condemned what it called an illegal incursion by U.S. fighter jets near its coast and has mobilized forces, as legal experts and regional figures question the operations’ legality and transparency.