US military kills four in strike on Venezuelan narco-trafficking vessel

Trump's War on Drug Cartels Escalates as US Strikes Another Boat Off Venezuela Coast

The United States military carried out a strike on a vessel ferrying drugs from Venezuela on Friday, killing all four people on board, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced. The attack, conducted on President Donald Trump’s orders, is part of a broader campaign treating drug traffickers as “unlawful combatants at war with the United States.”

“Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route,” Hegseth said. “These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!”

Earlier this morning, on President Trump's orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the… pic.twitter.com/QpNPljFcGn

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— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 3, 2025

This marks at least the fourth strike against suspected narco-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean since early September, all targeting boats allegedly linked to drug cartels recently designated as terrorist organizations. Hegseth described the strikes as part of an ongoing armed conflict, a determination made by the Trump administration.

Legal experts and lawmakers have questioned the legality of such strikes, noting that classifying drug cartel members as “unlawful combatants” could set a new precedent in U.S. military policy. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has warned of potential emergency measures in response to U.S. military actions.

“These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over,” Hegseth reiterated, emphasizing that the campaign is intended to protect Americans from narco-terrorist threats.

Donald Trump and his advisers have defended the strikes as essential, arguing that conventional law enforcement is inadequate against transnational drug cartels. Declaring the United States to be in a “non-international armed conflict” with these designated groups, Trump instructed the Defense Department to act under the law of armed conflict.