Source: New York Times
“President Trump said on Tuesday that the United States had carried out a strike against a boat carrying drugs and killed 11 ‘terrorists,’ the administration’s latest military escalation in Mr. Trump’s war against Venezuelan drug cartels that he has blamed for bringing fentanyl into the country. … ‘Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narco terrorists,’ Mr. Trump wrote. He said the strike ‘occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States.’ … The action comes amid a major buildup of U.S. naval forces outside Venezuela’s waters. The administration has also stepped up belligerent rhetoric about fighting drug cartels and labeled Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, a terrorist cartel leader.” (09/02/25)