US confirms four people killed in 20th strike on vessel in the Caribbean

The United States military has confirmed that four people were killed in a strike on a boat in international waters – the 20th reported attack on vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific – as officials of President Donald Trump’s administration were reported to have held meetings on possible military operations in Venezuela.

In a post on X on Friday, the US Southern Command said the strike on Monday was authorised by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and that the boat was “trafficking narcotics”, without providing evidence.

Southern Command shared an accompanying video clip that showed an aerial view of the boat travelling in the Caribbean before being struck and exploding in a ball of flames.

International law and human rights experts have repeatedly said that such attacks amount to extrajudicial executions, even if those targeted are suspected of drug trafficking.

The Trump administration has ordered at least 20 military strikes in recent months against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and off the Pacific coasts of Latin America, killing some 80 people.

‘Operation Southern Spear’

The Reuters news agency reported on Saturday that senior Trump administration officials held three meetings at the White House this week to discuss options for possible military action against Venezuela, citing unnamed officials.

The reported meetings come as the Trump administration has continued to significantly expand the US military’s presence in the Latin America region, including with F-35 aircraft, warships and a nuclear submarine.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon said the Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group, which includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier, had arrived in the Caribbean with at least 4,000 sailors and dozens of “tactical aircraft” on board.

In total, there are now about 12,000 US sailors and Marines in the region, in what Secretary Hegseth on Thursday formally named “Operation Southern Spear“.

Under the US Constitution, Congress has the sole power to declare war.

But Trump has said that he would not “necessarily ask for a declaration of war” in order to continue killing people “that are bringing drugs into our country”.

A newly published Reuters/Ipsos poll found that US military escalation in South America is not popular with the US public.

Just 29 percent of those surveyed said they supported the extrajudicial killings of suspected traffickers, and only 21 percent said they supported military intervention in Venezuela.

US military buildup threatens ‘zone of peace’ in Latin America

Leaders from several Central and South American countries have condemned the ongoing US strikes and military buildup in the region, saying it violates a 2014 agreement designating the area as a “Zone of Peace”.

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a regional bloc of 33 countries, signed the declaration in Havana, Cuba, in 2014. The US is not a member.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said in a statement that the US deployment is “an act of provocation that threatens the self-determination of our peoples”, according to Venezuela-based TV channel Telesur.

Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Colombian leader Gustavo Petro have also criticised the US strikes.

In a national broadcast last week, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said the Trump administration was “fabricating a new eternal war” in the region.

Maduro said his country, which has been struggling economically under US sanctions, has prepared what he called a “massive deployment” of forces in case of a US attack.