The U.S. military carried out a deadly strike Friday on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean accused of drug trafficking, the first known attack since a raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month. The strike killed two people and left one survivor, according to U.S. Southern Command. The Coast Guard launched search and rescue operations for the survivor.
The strike is part of an intensified campaign by the Trump administration targeting vessels suspected of drug smuggling across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early September, during which at least 117 people have been killed according to military announcements.
Maduro’s Capture Sets Stage for Campaign
The U.S. conducted a large-scale operation in Caracas on January 3 that captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, both of whom were flown to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges. Before his capture, Maduro said the U.S. military operations were a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.
Scope of the Military Campaign
Since early September 2025, there have been 36 known strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in South American waters, killing at least 117 people according to U.S. military announcements. The majority of those strikes have occurred in the Caribbean Sea.
In late December, the military struck five alleged drug-smuggling boats over two days, killing eight people total. The Coast Guard suspended its search operations days later.
Trump Administration Claims Success
President Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. strikes targeting alleged smugglers are having an enormous impact on slowing drug trafficking routes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. “We’ve stopped — virtually stopped almost 100% of all drugs coming in by water,” Trump said in remarks Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.