Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the first nighttime military strike was conducted in international waters against a narco-terrorist smuggling vessel carrying illegal drugs in the Caribbean Sea. Hegseth released video of the attack that killed six Tren de Aragua drug smugglers in the overnight strike announced Friday.
In a social media post on X, Secretary Hegseth indicated the kinetic strike on the vessel was carried out at the direction of President Trump and involved a vessel operated by Venezuela’s violent Tren de Aragua gang. In the post, Hegseth said, “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.”
As customary, Hegseth provided a video within the post showing the thermal image of the vessel being destroyed by a U.S. military aircraft ordinance. Hegseth went on to warn of the potential of future strikes, saying, “If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.
In his announcement of the latest strike, Hegseth said, “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 latest strike on narco-smuggling vessels by U.S. military forces is the ninth since President Trump’s military campaign against the narco-terrorist smugglers began in early September. The strike comes just hours after Hegseth announced an earlier kinetic strike had occurred on Tuesday in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of Colombia. That strike signaled a broadening of the maritime campaign against narco-terrorist cartels at sea as it was the first such strike outside the Caribbean Sea.
Thus far, at least 40 narco-terrorist smugglers have been killed in the U.S. military actions targeting their vessels at sea. As reported by Breitbart Texas, until the most recent strike, a total of 34 had been killed in the kinetic strikes.
Eleven narco-terrorist smugglers were killed during the first strike conducted in the Caribbean Sea on September 2, Breitbart Texas’s Bob Price reported. In that military action, Trump administration officials reported the vessel carrying the 11 narco-terrorist smugglers was also of Venezuelan origin and was being operated by members of the notorious Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.
Shortly after taking office, President Trump designated Tren de Aragua and several drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations in an executive order titled “Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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