WASHINGTON, DC – The United States has intensified pressure on the Nicolás Maduro administration in Caracas, after reportedly striking a vessel that had departed Venezuela carrying drugs.
President Donald Trump made the announcement moments ago at the White House, telling reporters, “over the last few minutes, literally, [we] shot a boat — a drug-carrying boat.”
The announcement comes as the U.S. has deployed Navy vessels to the Caribbean Sea to curb drug smuggling, which Washington believes is emanating from the South American nation.
The move has not been well received by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who recently described the U.S. military presence as the “greatest” threat the country has faced in nearly a century.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also weighed in on social media, posting on X: "As @potus just announced moments ago, today the U.S. military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Carribean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization."
The Trump administration has recently placed a US$50 million bounty on the arrest of the Venezuelan leader.
Full details about the strike have not been released by the US government.
