Story Highlights
- The US military has carried out more than 35 strikes on vessels since September 2025, killing more than 115 people in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific
- The Trump administration has provided little publicly verifiable evidence that targeted vessels were actually carrying drugs
- The campaign lacks formal congressional authorization and has drawn protests from Venezuela, international bodies, and some US lawmakers
What Happened
Since early September 2025, the United States military, under President Donald Trump, has conducted a series of lethal strikes on small civilian boats operating in or near Venezuelan waters. The US government has said the campaign is intended to dismantle narco-terrorist networks allegedly tied to Venezuelan criminal groups and senior officials — a charge the Venezuelan government vehemently denied under Maduro.
A US strike on an alleged drug boat killed three people in the eastern Pacific Ocean as recently as June 1, 2026, the fourth such attack in a single week at that point. The pace and geographic reach of the campaign have both expanded significantly since operations began.
The United States Southern Command began conducting military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea in September 2025, alleging some were trafficking drugs on behalf of Venezuela. These strikes formed part of a broader escalatory arc that eventually culminated in the January 3, 2026 Delta Force operation that captured Maduro from his residence in downtown Caracas.
Trump posted video footage of individual attacks to his Truth Social account, saying those on targeted boats were confirmed members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua bringing drugs to the US. The federal government designated the gang as a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signed off on individual strikes, framing each operation as a kinetic action against designated terrorist organizations. The White House has cited drug overdose deaths in the United States as the moral justification for the campaign.
Why It Matters
The maritime strike campaign raises fundamental questions about presidential authority to conduct lethal operations without a formal declaration of war or congressional authorization. The Constitution vests the power to declare war in Congress, and no authorization for the use of military force has been passed for operations in Venezuelan waters or against Venezuelan-affiliated targets.
An authorization for the use of military force has not been passed for operations in Venezuela. Senator Tim Kaine and other lawmakers have pursued legislation to prohibit the use of federal funds for any use of military force in or against Venezuela without congressional authorization, so far fruitlessly. For the Venezuela operations, it appears no lawmakers were notified in advance.
The Trump administration has provided no evidence about the type or quantity of drugs it says were on the boats. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 73,000 US drug overdose deaths from May 2024 to April 2025. Trump’s claim that the drugs on 32 boats would have been responsible for 800,000 deaths, nearly 11 times the actual overdose death rate, has been rated as false by PolitiFact.
The credibility gap between administration claims and verified evidence is a recurring concern. Critics argue that if the administration had strong evidence for each strike, it would make that evidence public. The refusal to do so, they say, means the campaign cannot be properly evaluated by the American public, Congress, or international observers.
Economic and Global Context
The campaign has reshaped US relations with Latin America in ways that will take years to fully understand. After the capture of Maduro, a number of other countries began to worry with reason that they too might be in Trump’s sights, representing a stunning breach of sovereignty in the eyes of many international observers. Colombia, which shares a border with Venezuela, has been among the most vocal critics.
Venezuela’s oil sector, though severely diminished by years of mismanagement and sanctions, remains a factor in global energy supply. The ongoing uncertainty over who governs Venezuela after Maduro’s capture — Trump stated that the US would run Venezuela until a safe and proper transition of power takes place — complicates any return to normal oil production and trade flows.
The Venezuelan government filed a formal complaint with the United Nations Security Council over the strikes. The US government released little verifiable evidence to support its claims about the targeted vessels, with officials asserting that the boats were linked to narcotics trafficking and terrorism but not making public any intelligence reports, physical evidence, or independent verification.
For American allies in the Western Hemisphere, the campaign raises unsettling precedents about when and on what basis the US considers it lawful to strike targets in the territory or waters of sovereign nations without multilateral endorsement.
Implications
The Venezuela maritime campaign will likely face intensifying legal and legislative scrutiny in the months ahead. Congressional Democrats have already introduced legislation to defund further strikes without formal authorization. Whether that effort gains bipartisan support will depend in part on whether the administration can produce credible evidence that the targeted vessels were in fact carrying drugs.
An April report from the federal National Intelligence Council contradicted Trump’s statements about links between Maduro and Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, finding that the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with Tren de Aragua and was not directing its movements. That finding, buried in an intelligence assessment, undermines one of the central justifications the administration has offered for the campaign.
The November 2026 midterms add a political dimension. Voters who support aggressive drug enforcement may view the strikes favorably, while those concerned about executive overreach and international law may push back. The outcome of Maduro’s trial in the Southern District of New York will also significantly shape the political and legal narrative surrounding the campaign’s origins and justifications.
For the families of those killed in the strikes, many of whom were never publicly identified by the US government, accountability remains elusive. That human dimension — largely absent from American domestic political coverage — is one that courts, journalists, and international bodies are beginning to press with increasing urgency.
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