Following the announcement Monday of a US military strike against a vessel in the Southern Caribbean allegedly killing three passengers accused of transporting drugs, US President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that the US had hit a third boat without providing any details.
The first attack against small boats accused of “narco-terrorism” took place on September 2 allegedly killing 11 people.
The latest massacres of unidentified people on speedboats near Venezuela mark a dangerous escalation in US preparations to attack Venezuela and overthrow President Nicolas Maduro, whom the Trump administration has accused of leading the inexistent “Cartel of the Suns.”
The attacks, crassly celebrated by the White House on social media, constitute premeditated mass killings. According to a detailed analysis by Just Security, the deliberate killing of people aboard these vessels—without evidence of an imminent threat—violates Section 1111(b) of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, which forbids “the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought” on the high seas. The administration has failed to produce any credible evidence of drug trafficking or self-defense claims, rendering these actions unlawful extrajudicial killings also under international law.
Trump further escalated the confrontation with a direct threat from the Oval Office that if Venezuelan military jets fly near US warships, they would be “shot down.” Standing beside a general, Trump told him he could “do anything you want” if the situation escalated, signaling a green light for potentially unchecked military aggression.
The claim that these military operations target drug cartels is preposterous. Ninety percent of drugs are trafficked through the Pacific. Venezuela is not a significant producer and accounts for barely 5 percent of cocaine transshipments.
The drug claims are further exposed as a pretext by the expanding deployment of military forces in the Southern Caribbean, including MQ-9 Reaper drones and a fleet of warships, submarines, and F-35 stealth fighter jets. The scale and speed of the military buildup signal preparations for full-scale attack aimed at regime change rather than mere narcotics interdiction.
The MQ-9 Reaper is a favorite tool for targeted assassinations or, in the language of the Pentagon, “decapitation strikes.”
Following their deployment, a former Trump official Marshall Billingslea published what he claims is a satellite image of Maduro’s underground bunker beneath the Simon Bolivar International Airport.
Maduro has responded to these provocations warning of an imminent US invasion and deploying thousands of troops and militias to the border with Colombia and key energy infrastructure hubs such as the Paraguana refining complex and the oil-rich Zulia state. A major explosion at a fireworks factory near oil infrastructure at the Maracaibo Industrial Zone in Zulia took place on September 11 injuring 40 workers, with the causes yet to be determined.
On Friday, September 12, a Venezuelan vessel with nine tuna fishermen was intercepted by a US Navy destroyer within the Venezuelan Exclusive Economic Zone, according to the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry. Eighteen troops with long guns boarded and held the vessel for eight hours.
President Donald Trump has made numerous provocative remarks about removing Maduro as neither an “option or a non-option,” vowed to “hunt” anyone suspected of drug trafficking, and claimed that “300 million people died last year from drugs.”
For his closest allies in the region, there is no doubt that the true goal is regime change. For instance, fascistic Brazilian Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of the former president, has explicitly said, “If the Brazilian regime consolidates and evolves like Venezuela, with elections lacking transparency, censorship, and political arrests, Brazil may well need F-35 fighter jets and warships in the future, as Venezuela currently does.”
This blunt admission reveals the strategic intent to use drug allegations as cover for aggressive military interventions aimed at toppling governments deemed hostile to US interests.
The tense regional atmosphere has also strained relations in Brazil. Brazilian Defense Minister José Múcio has expressed official “concern” that the US-Venezuela conflict could spill over Brazil’s borders. Brazil has already begun reinforcing its northern border with additional troops ahead of the upcoming COP30 Summit at Belem, in northeast Brazil.
US aggression in the southern Caribbean is part of a strategy involving economic and military coercion targeting Latin America more broadly. The White House has imposed 50 percent tariffs on Brazil and threatens to use its “economic and military might” in response to the conviction of Trump ally and ex-President Jair Bolsonaro for organizing a fascistic coup. Since day one of his second term, Trump has also threatened Mexico and Panama with military force.
Most recently, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio decertified Colombia from the US war on drugs program following President Gustavo Petro’s opposition to the US deployment in the Caribbean and threats against Venezuela. The punitive move carries significant economic consequences for Colombia. Petro had warned that a US invasion risks turning Venezuela into a “new Syria,” underscoring the potential for a devastating conflict spreading across the region.
The US escalation against Venezuela serves a dual purpose. First, it advances efforts to recolonize Latin America and secure the region as a strategic base for any future conflict with China—aiming to reassert US imperial dominance across the Western Hemisphere.
About 85 percent of oil exports from Venezuela are destined for China, with the China Concord Resources Corp. installing a new offshore platform in Maracaibo Lake, Zulia only last week.
Seizing control of Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest on the planet, has remained a key goal for US imperialism. US-based Chevron has gradually increased its operations in the country following Trump’s decision to renew a license exempting the company from US sanctions.
Second, the militarization and conflict narrative provide President Trump with a fabricated image as a “wartime president” against an external enemy, justifying the extraordinary powers he seeks in order to implement a police-state dictatorship at home.
As explained by Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Newsweek: “A war, for instance in Venezuela, could be used to justify more repression at home. Trump has already tried to do just that, invoking a fictional ‘invasion’ of the U.S. by a South American gang to deploy the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.”
Far from strength, such recklessness is a symptom of a regime in profound crisis. The ongoing massacres and buildup in the Caribbean reveal an imperialism willing to risk regional stability and another disastrous war to secure global hegemony and dictatorial rule at home, where troops have already been deployed in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, and plans have been announced to be send them into the streets of Memphis, Chicago and other cities.