On October 14, 2025, former President Donald Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, that a U.S. military strike killed 6 alleged drug smugglers aboard a boat off the coast of Venezuela. This was the fifth such lethal strike carried out under the Trump administration’s campaign against alleged drug-smuggling vessels since September.
The strike was part of an ongoing military campaign that has reportedly killed at least 27 people since September. The administration has asserted that it considers alleged drug traffickers to be “unlawful combatants” and is engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.
Legal experts and some members of Congress have questioned the legality of using lethal military force against suspected criminals at sea without trial.