Overview

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the military carried out a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean against a vessel that left Venezuela and was operated by a designated narco‑terrorist organization.
• Trump told reporters the boat was hit minutes earlier and later posted a video while asserting the strike occurred in international waters and killed 11, with no U.S. casualties reported.
• A senior defense official described the action as a precision strike, but U.S. defense agencies had not released detailed public reports on the location, vessel type, or casualties.
• The operation follows a U.S. maritime buildup near Venezuela that includes at least seven warships, a fast‑attack submarine, and roughly 4,500 sailors and Marines for expanded counter‑narcotics missions.
• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro condemned the deployments as a military threat, ordered forces to heightened readiness, and escalated rhetoric as Washington maintains a $50 million reward for his arrest on drug‑trafficking charges.