US-Venezuela relations – Artifex.News

White House says admiral ordered follow-on strike on alleged drug boat, insists attack was lawful

admin — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 01:57:00 +0000

The White House has said that a Navy admiral acted “within his authority and the law” when he ordered a second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea in a September U.S. military operation that has come under bipartisan scrutiny.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered the justification for the September 2 strike after lawmakers from both parties on Sunday announced support for congressional reviews of U.S. military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. The lawmakers cited a published report that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for a second strike that killed survivors on the boat in that September incident.

Ms. Leavitt in her comments to reporters on Monday (December 1, 2025) did not dispute a Washington Post report that there were survivors after the initial strike in the incident. Her explanation came after President Donald Trump a day earlier said that he “wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike” when asked about the incident.

“Secretary Hegseth authorised Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” said Ms. Leavitt, referring to U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Frank Bradley, who at the time was the commander of Joint Special Operations Command. “Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.” The lawmakers said they did not know whether last week’s Post report was true, and some Republicans were sceptical. Still, they said the reports of attacking survivors of an initial missile strike posed serious legal concerns and merited further scrutiny.

“This rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, when asked about a follow-up strike aimed at people no longer able to fight, said Congress does not have information that happened. He noted that leaders of the Armed Services Committee in both the House and Senate have opened investigations.

“Obviously, if that occurred, that would be very serious and I agree that that would be an illegal act,” Mr. Turner said.

Mr. Trump on Sunday vigorously defended Mr. Hegseth.

“Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,” Trump said. He added, “And I believe him.” Ms. Leavitt said Hegseth has spoken with members of Congress who may have expressed some concerns about the reports over the weekend.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also spoke over the weekend with the four bipartisan lawmakers leading the Senate and House Armed Services Committees in which he reiterated “his trust and confidence in the experienced commanders at every echelon,” Gen. Caine’s office said in a statement.

The statement added that the call focused on “addressing the intent and legality of missions to disrupt illicit trafficking networks which threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday broadly defended the operations, echoing the Trump administration position that they’re necessary to stem the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States.

“I don’t think you want to draw any conclusions or deductions until you have all the facts,” Thune said of the September 2 strike. “We’ll see where they lead.” After the Post’s report, Mr. Hegseth said Friday on X that “fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland”.

“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both US and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict — and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” Mr. Hegseth wrote.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Mr. Hegseth a “national embarrassment” over his response to critics. Schumer added that the armed services committees should demand that Mr. Hegseth release the video of the strike and testify under oath about what happened.

Mr. Trump later on Monday met with his national security team to discuss the ongoing operations and potential next steps against Venezuela.

The U.S. administration says the strikes are aimed at drug cartels, some of which it claims are controlled by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Mr. Trump also is weighing whether to carry out strikes on the Venezuelan mainland.

Mr. Trump on Sunday confirmed that he had recently spoken by phone with Mr. Maduro but declined to detail the conversation.

Speaking to supporters in Caracas on Monday, Mr. Maduro said that U.S. pressure has “tested” the country, but that Venezuelans are ready “to defend it and lead it to the path of peace”.

“We have lived through 22 weeks of aggression that can only be described as psychological terrorism,” Mr. Maduro said.

The September strike was one in a series carried out by the US military in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean as Trump has ordered the build up a fleet of warships near Venezuela, including the largest US aircraft carrier.

More than 80 have been killed the strikes on small boats that the Trump administration alleges smuggle narcotics for drug cartels.

Venezuela’s National Assembly has announced the launch of an investigation into the lethal strikes carried about by the US.

Sunday’s announcement by the Assembly’s president, Jorge Rodríguez, marked the first time that a Maduro government official explicitly acknowledged that Venezuelans have been killed in the monthslong US military operation.

Rodríguez, Maduro’s chief negotiator, said a group of lawmakers will come together to investigate “the serious events that led to the murder of Venezuelans in the waters of the Caribbean Sea”.

Published – December 02, 2025 07:27 am IST

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Why the U.S. is building up troops in the Caribbean

admin — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 11:10:00 +0000

The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107) sails from the Port of Spain amid heightened tensions in the region between the U.S. and Venezuela, as seen from Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

On August 7, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Trump administration had doubled the existing bounty on Nicolas Maduro, the left-wing President of Venezuela, to $50 million for information leading to his capture. The administration has accused Mr. Maduro of being “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world”. According to Washington, he heads Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), a Venezuela-based drug cartel that has been designated as a global terrorist organisation by the U.S. The U.S. Treasury Department said in July the Maduro regime facilitated “narco-terrorism through terror groups like Cartel de los Soles”. Ms. Bondi further claimed that Mr. Maduro has links with Tren de Aragua and Sinaloa Cartel, both criminal organisations designated as terror groups by Washington.

On September 2, President Donald Trump announced an air strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean. Ever since, the U.S. has carried out a series of strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific waters on boats which the Trump administration claimed was carrying drugs, killing at least 57 people. The U.S. is also building up troops in the Caribbean, in levels not seen in decades. It has already deployed some 10,000 troops to the region, including two Jima Amphibious Ready Groups with over 4,500 Marines and Sailors, three guided missile destroyers, an attack submarine, a special operations ship, a guided missile cruiser and reconnaissance aircraft.

Late last month, the Pentagon rerouted USS Gerald Ford, the Navy’s most modern aircraft carrier, to the Caribbean, with about 5,000 personnel aboard. The U.S. has also deployed at least 10 F-35 fighter jets and three MQ-9 Reaper drones to Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory in the Caribbean located less than 1,000 km off the Venezuelan coast. In October, the U.S. military flew a pair of supersonic B-1 Lancer bombers, which can carry more bombs than any other planes in the U.S. fleet, up to the coast of Venezuela.

The target

The troop buildup, along with the strikes on boats off Venezuela’s coast, makes it clear who the Trump administration’s target is — the Maduro regime. Venezuela has long been used as a transit route by drug traffickers from Colombia, source of most of the world’s cocaine. Venezuelan military officers were accused of involvement with cartels even before the Chavistas (followers of former Venezuela President Hugo Chavez) came to power in 1999. The cartels have deep influence in Venezuela, Colombia and other countries in the region. But Cartel de los Soles, which the Trump administration says is headed by Mr. Maduro, is not a “hierarchical, ideologically driven drug trafficking organisation”, according to a Crisis Group report. It is a “profit-based system of generalised corruption involving high-ranking military figures”, it adds.

The Trump administration has not provided any evidence to substantiate its claim that Mr. Maduro heads the cartel or his government is directly involved in drug production and trafficking. Earlier this year, U.S. media had reported that a U.S. intelligence memo had concluded that there was no evidence linking Mr. Maduro to Tren de Aragua, the criminal syndicate. Nonetheless, the administration seems determined to turn up the heat on the Venezuelan leader, whose regime maintains deep ties with Russia, China and Iran. Mr. Trump recently announced that he had authorised a covert CIA operation in Venezuela.

The method

During Mr. Trump’s first administration, the U.S. formally charged Mr. Maduro and his top aides for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking. But this time, the Trump administration is taking the anti-Maduro campaign to the military level. The Trump White House wants to focus more on America’s backyard where they have recently stepped up political and economic campaigns against left-wing governments and provided generous economic assistance to Javier Milei’s far-right libertarian government in Argentina. Trump officials also believe Mr. Maduro is far weaker today than five-six years ago. Accused of rigging the May 2025 election to retain power, he faces a reinvigorated right-wing opposition led by María Corina Machado — this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate — who has openly endorsed Mr. Trump’s Venezuela policy of crippling sanctions and military threats. Several close allies of Mr. Trump have already called on Mr. Maduro to quit and flee the country.

As of now, despite the $50-million bounty and the U.S. military pressure campaign, Mr. Maduro continues to hold his administration together. The military still backs him, and he has claimed to have raised militia to “defend” Venezuela. What will Mr. Trump do next? There are speculations that the U.S. would strike Venezuela’s military infrastructure in the name of expanding its war on drugs but aimed at weakening the regime further. Mr. Trump said on October 30 that he was not considering strikes on Venezuelan soil. But for Mr. Trump, inconsistency is a weapon rather than a liability. In June, he had said the U.S. was “fairly close to a pretty good agreement with Iran” over its nuclear programme, and warned Israel not to blow it up. Within a day, Israel bombed Iran, and a few days later Mr. Trump joined the war.

Published – November 01, 2025 04:40 pm IST

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