The US military said Friday they had carried out its deadly strike on alleged narcoterrorists in the Caribbean since the raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.
US Southern Command said on social media that the boat was ‘engaged in narco-trafficking operations’ and that the strike killed two people and left one survivor.
It said it notified the Coast Guard to launch search and rescue operations for that person.
Previous US strikes have come under heat from Democrats over alleged ‘double tap’ strikes which have targeted survivors.
A video accompanying the post announcing the latest strike shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames.
The US military has focused lately on seizing sanctioned oil tankers with connections to Venezuela since the Trump administration launched an audacious raid to capture Maduro and bring him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
With the latest military action, there have been 36 known strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in South American waters since early September that killed at least 117 people, according to announcements from the U.S. military and Trump.
The majority of those of strikes have occurred in the Caribbean Sea.
This image from video provided by U.S. South Command, shows a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean shortly before it was destroyed by the U.S. military, killing two and injuring one, on Jan. 23, 2026. (U.S. Southern Command via AP)
The last reported boat strikes occurred in late December, when the military said it struck five alleged drug-smuggling boats over two days, killing a total of eight people while others jumped overboard.
Days later, the Coast Guard suspended its search.
The US conducted a large-scale operation in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, on January 3 that led to the capture of Maduro and his wife, who were then flown to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges.
Maduro, before his capture, said the US military operations were a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the US strikes targeting alleged smugglers are having an enormous impact on slowing drug trafficking routes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
‘We´ve stopped – virtually stopped almost 100 percent of all drugs coming in by water,’ Trump said in remarks on Thursday at the World Economic Forum at Davos.
