The U.S. military on Tuesday conducted another strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people, a Pentagon official told CBS News.
No additional information was immediately available on the strike, which occurred the same day Venezuela announced it was launching a "massive mobilization" of military personnel, weapons, and equipment in response to the buildup of U.S. warships in the Caribbean Sea.
The latest strike raised the death toll in the U.S. campaign against alleged drug boats to 80 people and marked the 20th attack in the Pacific and Caribbean Seas since early September.
The U.S. has deployed its largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean and authorized covert CIA operations in Venezuela, prompting fears of escalation.
The USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group arrived in the Latin American region on Tuesday after being directed there by the Department of Defense to help "dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the homeland," according to War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
"The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere," chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on X in late October.
"These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs."
President Donald Trump has suggested the possibility of ground operations in Venezuela, saying "the land is going to be next" following strikes on vessels, though he later denied he was considering doing so.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, says Trump is seeking to oust him and that Venezuelan citizens and the military will resist any such attempt.
Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term in January despite credible evidence that he lost last year's election.
During Trump's first term, Maduro was indicted on U.S. federal drug charges, including narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine.
This year, the Justice Department doubled a reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest to $50 million, accusing him of being "one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world."
Trump has focused attention on the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which he claims is serving as a "front" for Maduro, and said members of the gang were in the first boat targeted last month. No details on alleged affiliations have been released regarding the other strikes.
Newsmax wires contributed to this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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