U.S. Strikes Venezuelan Vessel Again, Raising Pressure on Maduro

Trump: “U.S. Forces Attacked Venezuelan Drug Vessel, 3 Killed”
Military Pressure Has Escalated Since July; 11 Dead in U.S. Strike on September 2
Is Washington Using Armed Clashes as Part of a Regime-Change Strategy?

U.S. forces have once again attacked a drug smuggling vessel linked to Venezuelan cartels. After branding Nicolás Maduro’s government an “illegitimate regime” and deploying troops to Venezuelan waters, Washington now appears to be using cartel crackdowns as a pretext for escalating military clashes.

U.S. Strikes Venezuelan Vessel Again

On the 15th (local time), President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that U.S. forces had carried out a second strike against drug cartels in the Southern Command’s area of responsibility. “At my direction this morning, U.S. forces conducted another kinetic strike against clearly identified, extremely violent drug cartels and narcoterrorists,” he wrote. The targets, confirmed to be from Venezuela, were transporting what Trump described as “deadly illegal drugs — weapons killing Americans” across international waters bound for the United States.

Trump declared that these violent cartels pose a direct threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy, and core interests. He added that three traffickers were killed in the strike, while U.S. forces suffered no casualties. “If you are carrying drugs capable of killing Americans, we will find you,” Trump warned, stressing that cartel activities have for decades had “horrific consequences for American society, killing millions of U.S. citizens.”

Earlier, on September 2, Trump had also announced that U.S. forces struck another Venezuelan drug vessel, killing 11 traffickers.

Bounty on Maduro Doubled

The U.S. ramped up its campaign against Venezuela’s drug cartels starting in July. At that time, President Donald Trump signed a directive ordering the Pentagon to designate South American drug cartels as terrorist organizations and to authorize the use of military force against them. Washington also labeled Venezuelan criminal groups as terrorist organizations, named President Nicolás Maduro as their leader, and branded his government an illegitimate regime.

Following the designation, the U.S. deployed significant military assets to Venezuelan waters, including three Aegis destroyers, P-8 patrol aircraft, and the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group. The group comprises the USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima, USS Fort Lauderdale, and around 4,500 sailors, among them 2,200 Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, trained for special operations.

Meanwhile, the bounty on Maduro has been sharply increased. In March 2020, the Venezuelan leader was federally indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on charges including narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy. At the time, the Trump administration offered a $15 million reward for his capture. Outgoing President Joe Biden raised it to $25 million, and last month Trump’s second administration doubled it again to $50 million.

Foreign Media: “Echoes of the Panama Invasion”

Leading international outlets are drawing parallels between Washington’s latest actions in Venezuela and the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama under President George H. W. Bush. While the stated justification is a crackdown on narcotics trafficking, some argue the ultimate goal may be regime change.

Back then, the Bush administration launched a large-scale military operation to topple the government of Manuel Noriega, accused of drug smuggling and suppressing dissent. U.S. forces, including Navy SEALs, seized key sites such as Panama City, and Noriega was captured, extradited to the U.S., and convicted on drug charges. The operation remains one of the clearest examples of direct American intervention in Latin America to replace a regime.

The Guardian observed, “U.S. naval build-up and aggressive rhetoric create the impression of a dramatic external intervention not seen in the region since the 1989 Panama invasion.” But U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the speculation, telling reporters, “This is a counternarcotics operation. Wherever cartels threaten U.S. interests, we will confront them. It is not about overthrowing the Maduro regime.”