Updated on September 2, 2025, at 6:32 pm EST
President Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that a US military strike on a boat near Venezuela targeted Tren de Aragua (TDA), a Venezuelan gang that the Trump administration recently designated as a terrorist organization. The post came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US conducted a strike against a boat that had departed Venezuela.
“Earlier this morning, on my Orders, US Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” the president said.
Trump posted a video of the strike and claimed that it killed 11 “terrorists,” though no evidence has been provided to back up his claims. “No US Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America,” Trump said.
The president also claimed that TDA is “operating under the control” of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but that contradicts a recently declassified US intelligence memo that said it was unlikely that Maduro’s government cooperates with or directs TDA.
The memo from the Office of the Director of Intelligence, dated April 7, 2025, said that some members of the Venezuelan government may tolerate or cooperate with TDA, but Maduro and his top officials view the group as a threat. “The Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” the memo states.
Trump said the strike hit the boat while it was operating in international waters. He also claimed that the boat was carrying drugs and heading to the US, which contradicts earlier comments from Rubio, who told reporters that the drugs that were allegedly carried on the boat were likely headed toward Trinidad and Tobago or “some other country in the Caribbean.”
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) claimed in a post on X that the US had sunk a boat belonging to the “Cartel of the Suns,” a term used to describe a network of Venezuelan government and military officials allegedly involved in drug trafficking, but does not actually exist as an organization.
The US has also designated the Cartel of the Sons as a terrorist organization and claims Maduro is its leader, which he and other Latin American leaders deny. The strike on the boat comes after the US has deployed at least nine warships toward Venezuela, which is seen as a push toward another regime change effort against Maduro.
Rubio was a staunch supporter of the first regime change effort when he was a senator, and according to a report from Axios, he is largely driving Trump’s current Venezuela policy. Rubio recently announced that the bounty on Maduro’s head was increased to $50 million, and the Trump administration has designated several cartels, including the so-called Cartel of the Suns, as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”
One US official told Axios that the current operation against Venezuela could be “Noriega part 2,” referring to the 1989 US invasion of Panama that led to the ouster of Manuel Noriega. Maduro has vowed to fight if the US attacks, warning on Monday that he will declare a “republic in arms.”
