Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends an event at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 16, 2025. (Reuters File)
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday the U.S. military conducted a “lethal strike” in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela after President Donald Trump said U.S. forces “shot out” a drug-carrying boat that he linked to Venezuela.
US Military Carries out Strike on Vessel Carrying Drugs From Venezuela, Officials Say
President Donald Trump, who first disclosed the operation, said the Pentagon would soon be providing further details.
“We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, coming in for a long time. And we just, these came out of Venezuela,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
The United States has deployed warships in the southern Caribbean with the aim of following through on Trump’s pledge to crack down on drug cartels.
Tuesday’s strike appeared to be the first such military operation in the region to that effect, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the boat that was targeted had been operated by a drug-trafficking group that Washington had designated as a terrorist organization.
“The U.S. military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization,” Rubio said.
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(Reporting by Steve Holland, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali, Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Writing by Phil Stewart; Editing by Leslie Adler and Rosalba O’Brien)
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