11 h. ago US widens campaign on suspected drug boats with first deadly strike in Pacific

The US military struck a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, expanding an aggressive campaign of air strikes that so far had been limited to the Caribbean Sea. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike in a social media post on Wednesday, saying two people were killed. “Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbour anywhere in our hemisphere,” Hegseth wrote. In a brief video Hegseth posted, a small boat,...

Events

11 h. ago US widens campaign on suspected drug boats with first lethal strikes in Pacific

The United States has announced strikes on two alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Pacific Ocean that left five people dead, expanding the Trump administration’s campaign against drug trafficking in South America. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the two strikes on boats in the Pacific - one on Wednesday and another the day before - in social media posts showing the vessels being engulfed in flames. “Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our...

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6 d. ago US strikes on boats in Caribbean fuel speculation over missing fishermen

Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations has accused the US of killing innocent people in the Caribbean, citing local reports that two of the men in the latest boat bombing were Trinidadian fishermen. “People from different countries - Colombia, Trinidad, etc - are suffering the effects of these massacres,” ambassador Samuel Moncada told reporters at the UN on Thursday, while holding up the cover story of local Trinidadian newspaper Guardian on the deaths. The comments reflected Venezuela’s...

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6 d. ago US admiral overseeing strikes against boats off Venezuela to step down

The admiral who leads US military forces in Latin America will step down at the end of this year, two years ahead of schedule, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Thursday, in a surprise move amid escalating tensions with Venezuela. A source familiar with the matter said there had been tension between Admiral Alvin Holsey and Hegseth over operations in the Caribbean and questions about whether he would be fired in the days leading up to the announcement. The top Democrat on the Senate...

Events

6 d. ago US admiral overseeing strikes on boats off Venezuela to step down

The admiral who leads US military forces in Latin America will step down at the end of this year, two years ahead of schedule, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Thursday, in a surprise move amid escalating tensions with Venezuela. A source familiar with the matter said there had been tension between Admiral Alvin Holsey and Hegseth over operations in the Caribbean and questions about whether he would be fired in the days leading up to the announcement. The top Democrat on the Senate...

Events

7 d. ago Trump confirms CIA covert operations in Venezuela as he weighs land operations

US President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday that he has authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and said he was weighing carrying out land operations on the country. The acknowledgement of covert action in Venezuela by the US spy agency comes after the US military in recent weeks has carried out a series of deadly strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. US forces have destroyed at least five boats since early September, killing 27 people, and...

Politics

8 d. ago Trump says US strike on another alleged drug boat off Venezuela kills 6

The United States struck another small boat accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela, killing six people, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday. Those who died in the strike were aboard the vessel, and no US forces were harmed, the president said in a social media post. It was the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean as Trump’s administration has asserted it was treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force. US Defence Secretary...

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2 w. ago US strike on boat in Caribbean may have killed Colombians, Petro says

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said on Wednesday there were “signs” that Colombian citizens were killed in the last small boat attacked by the US military off the coast of Venezuela. “A new front in the war has opened: the Caribbean,” Petro wrote on the social platform X. “Signs show that the last bombed boat was Colombian with Colombian citizens aboard.” He did not provide any explanation for what those signs were. “I hope that their families come forward and report it,” he added. Neither...

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2 w. ago Hegseth says he has ‘every authorisation needed’ for Caribbean boat strikes

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said he has every authorisation needed for US military strikes on vessels just off the coast of Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal drugs. Hegseth was speaking in a Fox News interview broadcast on Sunday. The United States killed four people in a strike in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, at least the fourth such attack in recent weeks. “We have every authorisation needed. These are designated as foreign terrorist organisations,” Hegseth said in an interview on Fox...

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2 w. ago Trump says US hit another boat off Venezuela, hints land operations next

US forces hit another vessel allegedly carrying illegal drugs off the coast of Venezuela on Saturday evening, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday, adding that the US would also start looking at drug trafficking occurring on land. Trump made the comment during a speech at Naval Station Norfolk, next to the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. It was not immediately clear if he was referencing a strike announced on Friday by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. That strike, at least the fourth...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump says US is in ‘armed conflict’ with cartels after strikes in Caribbean

US President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict”, according to a Trump administration memo, following recent US strikes on boats in the Caribbean. Congress was notified about the designation by Pentagon officials on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The move comes after the US military...

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2 w. ago Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels after Caribbean strikes

US President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict”, according to a Trump administration memo, following recent US strikes on boats in the Caribbean. The memo appears to represent an extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers, with Trump effectively declaring that trafficking of drugs into the United States amounts to armed conflict requiring the use of military force - a new rationale for...

Events

3 w. ago Venezuela’s Maduro ready to declare state of emergency over US ‘aggression’

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is ready to declare a state of emergency over the threat of US “aggression”, following a spate of deadly US strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez said on Monday. Rodriguez told foreign diplomats that Maduro had signed a decree giving himself “special powers” as head of state to act in matters of defence and security in the event the United States “dares to attack our homeland”. A government source, however, told Agence...

Politics