The U.S. struck a cartel vessel in the southern Caribbean transporting drugs Tuesday, marking the first shots fired by the American military in President Donald Trump’s war against the cartels.
The strike sank a vessel belonging to Venezuelan drug cartel Tren de Aragua on Tuesday morning, with 11 cartel members confirmed dead in the attack, Trump announced Tuesday. The strike was carried out by U.S. Southern Command in international waters, where three Aegis-class missile boats are stationed alongside other assets to disrupt the Latin American cartel’s drug trade routes.
“No U.S. 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. BEWARE! Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!! [sic],” Trump said on Truth Social Tuesday evening.
@POTUS “Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility. TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of… pic.twitter.com/aAyKOb9RHb
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) September 2, 2025
Trump designated various Latin American cartels as terrorist organizations in early August and authorized the U.S. military to strike the groups shortly after. Tren de Aragua originated from a brutal prison in Venezuela and made its way to American shores under the Biden administration.
Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has also made thinly veiled threats against America in response to U.S. forces deploying to his coast, readying 2 million militia personnel while also deploying ships and drones off the nation’s shores. Maduro said in August that he would defend “[our] seas, our skies and our lands” and also called the deployment an “outlandish, bizarre threat of a declining empire.”
Both Tren de Aragua and the Cartel de los Soles both operate out of Venezuela, with the latter having connections to Maduro’s government.
Tren de Aragua members have been implicated in a slew of murders, drug operations and sex trafficking rings across America and beyond.
