Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has recently been accused of ordering a “kill them all” command to Admiral Bradley, the highest commanding officer in the region, in response to strikes on suspected drug boats on Sept. 2, 2025.
The strikes were part of Operation Southern Spear, conducted under U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Latin America. The operation was intended to stem the flow of drugs to the United States by targeting boats believed to be run by drug traffickers near Venezuela.
Later that day, Secretary Hegseth stated that Admiral Bradley had decided to sink one of the boats to neutralize the threat, an action Hegseth considered justified.
Members of both the Democratic and Republican parties have criticized the campaign, raising concerns about its legality and ethics. The Venezuelan Government has condemned the strikes, accusing the Trump administration of trying to topple their government.
U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed the strikes have reduced the flow of drugs into the U.S., but has provided no evidence to support this claim. Similarly, no proof has been presented confirming that the individuals aboard the boats were drug traffickers.
Former International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo condemned the strikes, calling them “crimes against humanity” under international law. He stated, “These are criminals, not soldiers. Criminals are civilians.” Ocampo added, “We should do better at investigating, prosecuting, and controlling them, but not killing people.”
On Nov. 16, 2025, the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, moved within striking distance of Venezuela, joining ten other vessels and 12,000 troops in the region following an increased U.S. military buildup.
Commander Rear Adm. Paul Lanzilotta said the buildup is meant to “protect our nation’s security and prosperity against narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere” as reported by NBC News.
According to CBS News, President Trump said he “would not rule out sending U.S. troops into Venezuela,” accusing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a drug cartel. As reported by NBC News, Colombian President Gustavo Petro called Trump a “barbarian,” criticizing the strikes and military buildup.
Baher Azmy, director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, told NBC News, “In a constitutional system, no president can arbitrarily choose to assassinate individuals from the sky… The Trump administration is taking its indiscriminate pattern of lawlessness to a lethal level.”
Since early September, U.S. forces have launched airstrikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. As reported by the BBC, the Trump administration claims that “the strikes are necessary to stem the flow of drugs to the U.S.”
As of December 4, 2025, 21 vessels were destroyed, killing 83 people.
Unlike previous U.S. policy, which involved interdicting suspected drug boats and arresting those aboard, these strikes have raised legal and ethical concerns from Human Rights groups and Congress. The Trump administration defended its actions, citing a classified Justice Department finding allowing strikes without Supreme Court review.
President Maduro called the strikes “serial executions.”
The gang most involved in the strikes is Tren de Aragua (TDA). Founded in 2014 inside a central Venezuelan prison, TDA initially controlled the prison, committing murders, kidnappings, and other crimes from behind bars.
Around the same time the gang was formed, Venezuela sank into an economic crisis after oil prices plummeted, prompting 7.7 million Venezuelans to flee the country for better lives abroad.
As local crime became less profitable, TDA expanded operations to neighboring countries and the U.S., continuing kidnappings and murders. Gang members have been arrested in Pennsylvania, Florida, New York, Texas, and California.
The Biden administration previously designated TDA as a transnational criminal organization. In January, the Trump administration reclassified TDA as a foreign terrorist organization.
President Trump wrote on Truth Social, “TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere.”
President Trump also claimed that each sunken boat saved 25,000 American lives from overdoses, according to the Associated Press. However, the boats primarily carried cocaine, not the synthetic opioids responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in the U.S. each year.
The Associated Press identified four men who died in the strikes, all from Sucre State, one of Venezuela’s poorest provinces, where homes often go weeks without running water or electricity.
Robert Sanchez, 42, was a school dropout, fisherman, and father of four. He hoped to buy a 75-horsepower engine for his boat, but his $1,200 annual income mostly went to feeding his family.
Pressured by Venezuela’s economic crisis, he accepted work helping traffickers navigate boats around the peninsula. After a fishing trip, he told his mother he would be gone for a few days. Social media posts later confirmed his death. His youngest son, in third grade, struggled to accept his father’s passing.
Luis “Che” Martinez, 60, was a local crime boss who earned his living smuggling drugs and people. Though feared for causing deaths, including a capsized boat that killed 12, he was also known for contributing to local festivals and spending generously in his community. His family learned of his death after a photo of his body washed up in Trinidad.
Dushak Milovcic, 24, a military academy dropout and drug runner, was killed in the strikes. His prior activity is unclear.
Juan Carlos “El Guaramero” Fuentes, a bus driver struggling financially, also turned to smuggling to support his family. Like many in Sucre, he and other poor villagers were being employed by higher-level traffickers, particularly following the U.S. strikes on Caribbean drug boats.
