President Donald Trump said Tuesday the U.S. military obliterated a drug-carrying vessel by the Tren de Aragua gang in the southern Caribbean headed toward America.
The President said in a post on Truth Social that 11 people were killed in the strike, marking a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s effort to stem the flow of narcotics from Latin America.
“The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States,” Trump said on Truth Social. “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.”
Trump shared a clip of the strike, showing the boat exploding instantly.
Tren de Aragua originated more than a decade ago among the country’s most notorious criminals at an infamously lawless prison in the central state of Aragua. The gang has grown in recent years as more than 7.7 million Venezuelans migrated to other countries, including the U.S, during the Biden administration when the border was unmanned and wide-open.
In August, Trump sent roughly 4,000 Marines to the Venezuelan coast and three guided-missile destroyers, inciting the country’s authoritarian liberal leader, Nicolas Maduro, to mobilize a militia. However, this is the first known attack on a cartel since Trump authorized the military to carry out operations earlier this year. The area is known for being a large exporter of cocaine, but early statements did not reveal the type of drugs the boat was carrying.
The U.S. government is offering a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, while Maduro is accusing the U.S. of seeking regime change.
“They are seeking a regime change through military threat,” Maduro told journalists, officials, and uniformed military brass in Caracas, echoing comments made last week by his government’s representative at the United Nations. “Venezuela is confronting the biggest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years,” Maduro said. “A situation like this has never been seen.”
Maduro said Venezuela is “super prepared” and would not cave to pressure from the United States.
“Maduro’s reign of terror is ending,” a source close to the Trump administration told The New York Post on Tuesday following the strike.
