U.S. forces just lit up a narco-terrorist smuggling boat under the cover of night in the Caribbean Sea, marking a bold new chapter in the fight against drug cartels.
Breitbart reported that the U.S. military conducted its first-ever nighttime kinetic strike against a Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang-operated vessel in international waters, as announced by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Friday, resulting in six narco-terrorist deaths as part of an ongoing campaign launched in early September.
This campaign kicked off with a bang on September 2, when the first strike in the Caribbean Sea took out 11 smugglers aboard another Venezuelan vessel tied to the same violent Tren de Aragua gang, according to administration officials and Breitbart Texas reports.
Since that initial operation, the U.S. military has racked up a total of nine strikes, with at least 40 narco-terrorists killed in actions targeting their drug-laden ships across maritime zones.
Prior to this latest nighttime raid, 34 smugglers had already been neutralized in these high-stakes operations, as detailed by Breitbart Texas, showing just how relentless this mission has become.
President Trump’s early executive order, designating Tren de Aragua and other cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, laid the legal groundwork for treating these drug runners as battlefield enemies rather than mere criminals—a move that’s clearly paying off in spades.
Fast forward to Friday’s announcement, and Hegseth revealed this historic nighttime strike in the Caribbean, a first for the region, proving the U.S. isn’t just playing defense but taking the fight to the shadows where these smugglers operate.
“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth declared, laying bare the precision of U.S. intel in targeting these floating drug dens.
Let’s not kid ourselves—while some might wring their hands over the ethics of such strikes, the reality is that these are violent operators fueling addiction and chaos in our hemisphere, and ignoring them isn’t an option.
Just days before this latest hit, Hegseth announced another strike on Tuesday, this time in the Eastern Pacific Ocean near Colombia, signaling that the U.S. campaign isn’t confined to one patch of water but is expanding wherever these cartels dare to sail.
This broadening of scope shows a refusal to let geography limit justice, even as progressive voices might decry the militarization of the drug war without offering a viable alternative to stop the flood of poison crossing our borders.
Hegseth didn’t mince words about the latest Caribbean operation, stating, “Six male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters, and was the first strike at night in the Caribbean Sea. All six terrorists were killed, and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.”
The Secretary of War even released a chilling thermal video of the strike, showing U.S. aircraft ordinance obliterating the vessel—a stark reminder to narco-terrorists that there’s no hiding, even under the cover of darkness.