Four killed as U.S. strikes another drug-smuggling speedboat off coast of Venezuela, Pentagon says

U.S. forces on Friday struck another boat off the coast of Venezuela that was transporting drugs to America, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.

Four “narco-terrorists” were killed in the operation, the Pentagon chief said.

The latest strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean came just one day after President Trump told lawmakers in an official memo that the U.S. is now at war with drug cartels, and the individuals associated with those cartels are unlawful combatants.

Those designations give Mr. Trump wartime powers to wage war against the groups.

In a social media post, Mr. Hegseth said U.S. intelligence determined with 100% certainty that the boat was carrying drugs.

“The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics — headed to America to poison our people,” Mr. Hegseth said on X.

“Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route,” he said. “These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!”

The strike Friday is at least the fourth time in recent months that the U.S. has attacked a boat in international waters allegedly transporting drugs from Venezuela to the U.S. Those strikes, the Trump administration says, are necessary to stop the flow of narcotics from the region and into American cities.

But critics say the administration lacked the clear legal authority for such actions. And they said that, by targeting small speed boats so close to the Venezuelan coast, the U.S. could spark a war with Venezuela.

The government in Caracas, led by President Nicolas Maduro, has loudly objected to the presence of American military assets stationed in the region and to the kinds of strikes seen Friday.

Mr. Trump’s designation this week was designed to address the legal questions swirling around the strikes.

By declaring that the U.S. is an armed conflict with drug cartels, similar to the conflicts with Al Qaeda and other Islamist groups since 2001, the U.S. can lawfully kill enemy combatants, detain them indefinitely without trials, and prosecute them in military tribunals.