U.S. military kills 11 in strike on alleged drug boat leaving Venezuela, Trump says | CBC News

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday the U.S. has carried out a military strike in the southern Caribbean against what he said was a drug-carrying vessel operated by the Tren de Aragua gang that departed from Venezuela.

The president said in a Truth Social social media post that 11 people were killed in the U.S. military operation, and he posted a video of a small vessel appearing to explode in flames.

“The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States,” Trump said in the posting. “No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America.”

The video appears to show a long, multi-engine speedboat travelling at sea when a bright flash of light bursts over the craft. The boat is then briefly seen covered in flames.

The video, which is largely in black and white, was not clear enough to see if the craft was carrying as many as 11 people or if there were any drugs inside the boat.

The White House account on X also published a post about the strike, which also included video.

Trump administration has previously blamed gang

Tren de Aragua originated more than a decade ago at an infamously lawless prison in Venezuela’s central state of Aragua.

The gang has expanded in recent years as more than 7.7 million Venezuelans fled economic turmoil and migrated to other Latin American countries or the U.S.

Trump and administration officials have repeatedly blamed the gang for being at the root of the violence and illicit drug dealing that plague some U.S. cities. And the president on Tuesday repeated his claim — contradicted by a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment — that Tren de Aragua is operating under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s control.

The White House did not immediately explain how the military determined that those aboard the vessel were members of Tren de Aragua.

The size of the gang is unclear, as is the extent to which its actions are co-ordinated across state lines and national borders.

Venezuelan official questions video’s veracity

After Trump announced the strike, Venezuelan state television showed Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores walking the streets of his childhood neighbourhood. A television presenter said Maduro was “bathing in patriotic love” as he interacted with supporters.

“In the face of imperialist threats, God (is) with us,” Maduro told supporters.

Maduro did not address the strike directly, but charged that the U.S. is “coming for Venezuela’s riches,” including oil and gas. The South American country has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

“From the neighbourhoods of Caracas … I tell you, there will be peace in Venezuela, with sovereignty,” he said.

Communications Minister Freddy Ñáñez questioned the veracity of the video.

“Based on the video provided, it is very likely that it was created using Artificial Intelligence,” he said on his Telegram account. He didn’t say what tools could have been used to create the video, but said it showed an “almost cartoonish animation, rather than a realistic depiction of an explosion.”

Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had first announced the strike earlier Tuesday, shortly before Rubio left on a trip to Mexico and Ecuador for talks on drug cartels, security, tariffs and more.

In a brief exchange with reporters before departing Miami for Mexico City, Rubio deferred questions about the specifics of the strike to the Pentagon. He said the drugs on the vessel were likely headed to Trinidad or elsewhere in the Caribbean.

For years, Rubio has spoken out against Maduro and other Latin American leftist governments and supported opposition leaders. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, Rubio told Univision there was a “strong argument” to be made for the use of the U.S. military in Venezuela. He’s also accused Venezuelan officials of aiding drug traffickers.

Asked if Trump would carry out operations on Venezuelan soil, Rubio was opaque. “We’re going to take on drug cartels wherever they are and wherever they’re operating against the interests of the United States,” he said.

U.S. plans to boost maritime force

The U.S. recently announced plans to boost its maritime force in the waters off Venezuela to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels.

The U.S. has not signaled any planned land incursion by the thousands of personnel being deployed. Still, Maduro’s government has responded by deploying troops along Venezuela’s coast and border with neighbouring Colombia, as well as by urging Venezuelans to enlist in a civilian militia.

Several analysts said a U.S. invasion of Venezuela was not likely — for both practical and political reasons.

“I think an invasion is really out of the question,” said Michael Shifter, a senior fellow with the Inter-American Dialogue think-tank, telling CNN the number of U.S. troops that have been sent to the region are too few to mount such an offensive.

“This is more about drug interdiction and showing incredible force against drug cartels than it is about removing Maduro from power, per se,” Ryan C. Berg, the director of the Americas program at the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank, told Germany’s Deutsche Welle.

Both Berg and Shifter assessed the Trump administration would be hesitant to get the U.S. involved in any protracted conflict.

Maduro has insisted that the U.S. is building a false drug-trafficking narrative to try to force him out of office.

He and other government officials have repeatedly cited a United Nations report that they say shows traffickers attempt to move only five per cent of the cocaine produced in Colombia through Venezuela.

Landlocked Bolivia and Colombia, with access to the Pacific and Caribbean, are the world’s top cocaine producers.

The latest UN World Drug Report shows that various countries in South America, including Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, reported larger cocaine seizures in 2022 than in 2021, but it does not assign Venezuela the outsize role that the White House has in recent months.