Trump announces third US strike on alleged drug-smuggling vessel off Venezuela

US President Donald Trump announced on the evening of September 19 that American forces carried out a third strike against a vessel he said was “trafficking illicit narcotics,” killing at least three men aboard. 

The strike occurred in international waters within the US Southern Command’s area, which covers 31 countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean.

Trump posted aerial footage showing the vessel struck and ablaze, but offered no evidence of its origin or exact location. He said intelligence confirmed the vessel posed a threat to Americans, and no US personnel were harmed.

The announcement comes as the US deployed warships near Venezuela, backed by F-35 fighters in Puerto Rico, in what it calls anti-drug operations. Previous strikes in early September targeted two vessels allegedly linked to Venezuelan drug cartels, killing 11 people in the first strike and three in the second.

Venezuela condemned the actions, calling them an “undeclared war” and urging a UN investigation. Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López said the strikes execute people without due process, while President Nicolás Maduro accused the US of attempting violent regime change and called on citizens to join militia training.

Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles rejected a US invasion, saying the solution is political, not military. Meanwhile, US lawmakers and rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have questioned the legality of the strikes, emphasising that drug trafficking does not justify extrajudicial killings.

By Tamilla Hasanova