2025 U.S. Strikes on Venezuelan Vessels: When Washington’s War on Drugs Reaches Venezuela’s Shores

Since early September 2025 the United States military, under Pres. Donald Trump, has conducted a series of lethal strikes on small civilian boats operating in or near Venezuelan waters. As of the end of November, at least 26 such operations have been reported, resulting in at least 95 deaths. The U.S. government has said the campaign is intended to dismantle “narco-terrorist” networks allegedly tied to Venezuelan criminal groups and senior officials—a charge Venezuelan Pres. Nicolás Maduro vehemently denies.

Following the first series of attacks near the Venezuelan coast, U.S. forces carried out additional strikes farther afield along the Pacific coasts of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The widening area of operations, which involved casualties from several neighboring countries, raised concerns among neighboring governments about regional sovereignty and the scope of U.S. military operations.

The strikes form part of a broader U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, where roughly 10,000 troops, at least eight naval warships, two B-52 aircraft, and MQ-9 Reaper drones have been deployed in recent months. Beyond the immediate question of legality, the campaign’s scope and scale suggest a significant shift in U.S. strategy—even amid international pushback—one that expands the military’s role in regional security and raises the prospect of a widening U.S.-Venezuela confrontation.

Justification and rejection of the attacks

The Trump administration has said the strikes targeted vessels used for narcotics smuggling and terrorism, describing the campaign as part of a broader effort to disrupt transnational criminal networks. However, the U.S. government has not publicly presented evidence that the boats were carrying drugs to the United States. In at least one case, reports indicated that a suspected smuggling vessel had turned back toward the Venezuelan coast before being struck by U.S. forces.

“Eight warships, with 1,200 missiles and a nuclear submarine, are targeting Venezuela. It is an extravagant, immoral, and bloody threat. If Venezuela is attacked, we will declare ourselves in armed struggle and a republic at arms.”

—Nicolás Maduro, September 2, 2025

The Venezuelan government has condemned the operations as illegal and politically motivated. Pres. Nicolás Maduro described them as “a military attack on civilians who were not at war and were not militarily threatening any country,” accusing Washington of trying to provoke a wider conflict. He argued that the true objective was “regime change for oil” rather than the drug interdiction cited by the Trump administration as its main justification.

Timeline of the strikes

The following chronology outlines the reported U.S. strikes on Venezuelan vessels between September and October 2025, along with key statements and reactions as the campaign unfolded. After the initial series of attacks near the Venezuelan coast, U.S. operations expanded into wider Caribbean and Pacific waters. In mid- to late October 2025, several additional strikes were reported in international waters near the coasts of Colombia and Ecuador, marking a significant broadening of the campaign’s geographic scope.

September 2, 2025

The first reported strike killed 11 people aboard a vessel that U.S. officials said was carrying narcotics. Trump said that the small boat was smuggling drugs on behalf of the Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang. “TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere,” Trump posted after the attack. The boat, however, was reportedly turning back toward Venezuelan land when it was struck. When asked whether additional strikes might follow, Secretary of State Marco Rubio replied that “no one should be surprised” if they did. Maduro rejected this account and vowed to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty. “Venezuela is always ready for dialogue, but we demand respect,” he said following the attacks. “None of our differences justify a high-impact military conflict in South America.” He called for talks to prevent escalation and accused the United States of manufacturing a pretext for war.

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September 15, 2025

A second U.S. strike killed three people aboard another Venezuelan vessel that U.S. officials said was engaged in narcotics trafficking. Trump announced the attack on social media alongside a video posted of the boat’s explosion. He later told reporters that “we have proof” the boat’s passengers were transporting drugs. “All you have to do is look at the cargo that was…spattered all over the ocean. Big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place,” he said. Maduro condemned the operation, calling it a “criminal attack” and accusing Washington of manufacturing evidence to justify aggression. Speaking at a press conference surrounded by military officials, he said, “This isn’t tension. It is an aggression all down the line—it’s a judicial aggression when they criminalize us, a political aggression with their daily threatening statements, a diplomatic aggression, and an ongoing aggression of military character.”

October 14, 2025

A fifth strike killed six people aboard a vessel near the Venezuelan coast. Trump confirmed the operation on Truth Social and described the target as part of “narcoterrorist networks” and said intelligence confirmed the boat had been moving drugs along a known trafficking route in international waters. Republican and Democratic lawmakers voiced growing concern. Sen. Adam Schiff of California said the president’s war powers did not extend to preemptive strikes of this kind and that “these continued strikes—27 killed to date—risk getting the U.S. into a full-fledged war.” In Venezuela, National Assembly Pres. Jorge Rodríguez accused Washington of spreading “lies” to justify what he called preparations for an invasion.

Domestic and international response

“We’ve taken a very hard stand on drugs…the water drugs—the drugs that come in through water they’re not coming—there are no boats anymore, frankly there are no fishing boats, there’s no boats out there period.”

—Trump speaking to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on October 7, 2025

These U.S. operations drew sharp criticism from international organizations and foreign governments. United Nations human rights experts warned that the strikes could violate fundamental international norms, arguing that “international law does not allow governments to simply murder alleged drug traffickers” and that all states must “respect the right to life, including when acting on the high seas or in foreign territory.” They also cautioned that the repeated use of lethal force in maritime operations blurred the line between law enforcement and armed conflict.

In Latin America and the Caribbean the reaction has been swift. Colombia’s Pres. Gustavo Petro condemned one of the operations as “murder” and accused Washington of violating regional sovereignty, while police in Trinidad and Tobago launched an investigation after two of its citizens were reportedly killed in one of the attacks. Most other regional governments remained cautious, issuing no formal statements but expressing unease about the growing U.S. military presence in Caribbean waters.

Domestically in the United States, lawmakers and legal scholars questioned the administration’s authority and the precedent being set. Former State Department legal adviser John Bellinger told Time magazine that the logic underpinning the strikes as “dangerous,” arguing that the targeted groups were “not engaged in an armed conflict with the United States and their members are not combatants.” Meanwhile, law professor Rebecca Ingber also told Time that the normalization of maritime lethal strikes “[erodes] the rule that is the backbone of the modern international law system that states may not use force except in the most narrow exceptional circumstances.”

Additional scrutiny of the U.S. boat strike operations emerged after The Washington Post reported on November 28, 2025, that the September 2 strike had left two survivors but that a second attack was subsequently carried out to comply with what two military officials reportedly described as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s directive to “kill everybody” on board. Although the White House confirmed the follow-up strike, Hegseth stated that the report was “fabricated” and “fake news.” Nevertheless, the report prompted congressional calls for investigation from both Republicans and Democrats, who questioned the legality of targeting survivors of an initial strike. U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, a Republican from Ohio and former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, told CBS that “if that occurred, that would be very serious, and…an illegal act.” U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, similarly said to CBS that the conduct described “rises to the level of a war crime.”