Venezuela

President Donald Trump has said US forces carried out a “lethal kinetic strike” on a vessel which he said was trafficking drugs, and the attack killed three “male narcoterrorists” on board.

Trump said he ordered the attack on the boat, which was in the US Southern Command’s area of responsibility, after US intelligence confirmed it was trafficking drugs. It was the third such strike on alleged drug boats in recent weeks.

Trump’s statement on Truth Social on Friday said the strike happened in international waters. The US Southern Command’s area of responsibility covers most of South America and the Caribbean.

BREAKING – US President Donald Trump releases another drone visual showing a US military Airstrike against a Narco boat in the Carribbean sea originating from Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/T7Q2tvZUs7

— All Patriots Network A.P.N. (@AllPatriotsNet) September 20, 2025

Venezuela says it has begun three days of military exercises on its Caribbean island of La Orchila as tensions soar amid US military activity in the region.

Forces deployed for what Washington called an anti-drug operation have blown up at least two Venezuelan boats and a combined 14 people allegedly transporting drugs across the Caribbean this month – a move slammed by UN experts as “extrajudicial execution”.

The strikes and a deployment of US warships in the region have raised fears of an invasion in Venezuela, whose president, Nicolás Maduro, has been accused by Washington of being a cartel leader.

WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Monday that the US military had carried out a second strike against purported drug traffickers from Venezuela in international waters.

Three “male terrorists” were killed, Trump announced on Truth Social.

BREAKING: On President Trump’s orders, the U.S. military just conducted a SECOND kinetic strike on a drug boat with narcoterrorists headed to the U.S.

Trump is RAINING HELL on the cartels

TRUMP WROTE: “This morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a SECOND… pic.twitter.com/PRwwpGwZyH

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 15, 2025

Trump says SOUTHCOM struck another boat this morning carrying drugs and "narcoterrorists from Venezuela"

"BE WARNED — IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!" pic.twitter.com/iN6Fg5QMbj

— Matt Rice (@matt____rice) September 15, 2025

President Trump shared dramatic footage of the US military obliterating a boat carrying drugs and Tren de Aragua gangbangers off the coast of Venezuela.

The video showed the small boat being blown out of international waters and exploding into flames after it was struck by a single missile on Tuesday, killing all onboard.

BREAKING: President Trump just released the video of the U.S. military STRIKING a drug boat from Venezuela heading to America carrying ELEVEN Tren de Aragua narcoterrorists, who were kiIIed in the strike

TRUMP: “Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces… pic.twitter.com/axQAWxjJhm

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 2, 2025

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday offered a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

“Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like [Tren de Aragua], Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a video posted on X.

Today, @TheJusticeDept and @StateDept are announcing a $50 MILLION REWARD for information leading to the arrest of Nicolás Maduro. pic.twitter.com/D8LNqjS9yk

— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 7, 2025

h/t Canucklehead

Five members of Venezuela’s political opposition have left the Argentinian diplomatic compound in their country’s capital, Caracas, where they had sheltered for more than a year to avoid arrest, and were in the United States on Tuesday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said.

Rubio did not provide details of the group’s movements to reach the US, but he described the event as a rescue operation.

The government of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, did not immediately comment on the situation.

US President Donald Trump says he will revoke a license which allowed Venezuela to export some of its oil to the US despite sanctions.

The move is a major blow to the Venezuelan government as the license provided it, through joint ventures between the state-run oil company and US oil giant Chevron, with a crucial income in dollars.

Trump said he was revoking the licence – which gave Chevron permission to operate in Venezuela – because the government of Nicolás Maduro had failed to meet “electoral conditions” and had not transported “violent criminals” deported from the US at a quick enough pace.

More than half a million Venezuelans have entered the US illegally since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Until Biden became president, few Venezuelans arrived illegally. Only around 4,500 arrived in 2020. After Biden’s inauguration, however, numbers exploded: 50,499 Venezuelans illegally entered in 2021, another 189,520 in 2022 and a whopping 334,914 in 2023.

This means that Venezuelans now rank second in illegal immigration into the US, after Mexicans, who still take the number one spot.

Long-shot American attempt fueled by opposition effort to document strongman’s overwhelming defeat at the polls

BOGOTA—The U.S. is pursuing a long-shot bid to push Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to give up power in exchange for amnesty as overwhelming evidence emerges that the strongman lost last month’s election, people familiar with the matter said.The U.S. has discussed pardons for Maduro and top lieutenants of his who face Justice Department indictments, said three people familiar with the Biden administration deliberation. One of the people said the U.S. has put “everything on the table” to persuade Maduro to leave before his term ends in January.

Another person familiar with the talks said the U.S. would be open to providing guarantees not to pursue those regime figures for extradition. The U.S. in 2020 placed a $15 million bounty for information leading to Maduro’s arrest on charges of conspiring with his allies to flood the U.S. with cocaine.

The talks represent a flicker of hope for a Venezuelan political opposition that meticulously collected voter tallies showing its candidate, little-known former diplomat Edmundo González, defeated Maduro in a landslide in the July 28 election. Over the past two weeks, Maduro has jailed thousands of dissidents, maintained the military’s loyalty and tasked the Supreme Court, stacked with his handpicked allies, with resolving the election impasse, buying him time.