Overview

• U.S. forces sank a fast boat off Venezuela on September 2, with officials saying 11 suspected Tren de Aragua members were killed, a claim the Venezuelan government disputes.
• Venezuela labeled the action an extrajudicial killing and asserted that the widely shared attack video is fake, while Washington defended the strike.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth signaled that similar operations against drug‑smuggling vessels in the southern Caribbean will continue.
• The United States has deployed several warships, an attack submarine and thousands of personnel to the region as part of a broader pressure campaign on Nicolás Maduro's government.
• The Trump administration plans to revoke Temporary Protected Status for many Venezuelans in the U.S., and the United Nations urged adherence to legal norms as tensions rise.