WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Monday that the US military carried out a second strike against alleged drug traffickers from Venezuela inside two weeks — telling reporters “big bags of cocaine and fentanyl” were “spattered all over the ocean.”
Three “male terrorists” were killed in international waters, Trump posted on Truth Social.
“The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the U.S,” the president wrote.
“These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to U.S. National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests.”
Dramatic footage of the strike shared by Trump showed a small boat idling in choppy waters before bursting into flames after it was hit by a US missile.
Trump told journalists in the Oval Office late Monday afternoon that future airstrikes could hit Mexican cartels smuggling drugs by land — and that there was little doubt about the culpability of the deceased boaters.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of joint chiefs of staff, “showed me a little while ago the clip, but you could actually see it. But you don’t have to see it, because we have recorded proof and evidence. We know what time they were leaving, when they were leaving, what they had, and all of the other things that you’d like to have,” the president said.
“But we have noticed that there are no ships in the ocean anymore … meaning no drugs are coming across and [we are] probably stopping some fishermen too,” Trump added.
“I mean, to be honest, if I were a fisherman, I wouldn’t want to go fishing… I’d say, ‘Man, maybe they think I have drugs downstairs. I don’t want that.’… But no, there are literally no boats. This was a boat, and we were surprised to see it.”
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Trump added: “That means there’s no drugs coming by sea, but they do come by land. And you know what we’re telling the cartels right now, we’re going to be stopping them too. When they come by land, we’re going to be stopping them the same way we stopped the boats. And you’ll see that.”
“But maybe by talking about it a little bit, it won’t happen. If it doesn’t happen, that’s good,” he went on.
“They killed 300,000 people in our country last year, and we’re not letting it happen anymore.”
About 78,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in the 12 months ending in March, down from about 104,000 the prior year in 2023-2024, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trump has scoffed at official figures as a likely undercount of drug-related deaths.
No American personnel were harmed in the latest operation, according to the commander in chief.
The Trump administration has stepped up pressure on Venezuela in recent weeks, placing a $50 million bounty on the head of the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, before carrying out an initial airstrike that killed 11 suspected traffickers Sept 2.
“BE WARNED — IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!” the president declared in his post sharing video of the Monday attack.
The first strike targeted alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang the Trump administration has designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization operating under the control of the Maduro regime.
Venezuelan officials have denied the people aboard the boat were smuggling drugs.
The US Navy has deployed at least eight warships to the Caribbean Sea as part of Trump’s effort to crack down on drug trafficking conducted by Maduro-linked narcoterrorist groups.
Maduro’s government claimed Saturday that 18 members of the US military from a deployed Navy destroyer raided an tuna boat and searched the eight-man vessel for hours.
Highly advanced F-35 fighter jets have also been deployed to the region, with at least five of the stealth aircraft spotted landing in Puerto Rico over the weekend.
Trump previously threatened to shoot down Venezuelan military planes that interfere in US operations in the region after two F-16s recently flew over the USS Jason Dunham guided missile destroyer in what the Pentagon described as a “highly provocative move.”
Margarito “Jay” Flores Jr., a former Sinaloa cartel kingpin, told Fox News Saturday that Trump’s “aggressive approach” is sending a strong message to criminal organizations in Latin America.
“They’re going after everyone,” Flores Jr., said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends Weekend.” “It doesn’t matter if you’re a president of a country or a drug trafficker.
“There’s a lot of fearful drug traffickers.”
