US Exercises Self-Defense to Destroy Narco-Terrorist Boats

A Venezuelan drug cartel vessel headed to the United States burns following a U.S. military strike, the second such strike carried out against a suspected drug boat in recent weeks, a still from video released on Sept. 15, 2025. President Donald Trump via Truth Social via Reuters

Commentary

On Sept. 2, U.S. armed forces struck an identified narco-terrorist fast boat in international waters transiting at high speed in the Caribbean Sea. The vessel reportedly carried on board eleven persons who were members of Tren de Aragua (TdA), a designated terrorist organization under U.S. law. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the attack occurred in the “Southern Caribbean” against the vessel, which had “departed from Venezuela.” The boat was destroyed, presumably by a missile, killing everyone on board. On Sept. 15, the United States destroyed a second boat operated by drug trafficking cartels. The next day, President Trump said,” We knocked off, actually three boats—not two—but you saw two.” We suggest these attacks are a lawful exercise of the president’s powers under the U.S. Constitution and U.S. law, and consistent with the international law of self-defense.

The Threat of Tren de Argua

TdA suddenly appeared as an imminent threat in the United States as part of a massive surge of 1.5 million Venezuelans that entered the country during the previous administration. TdA is not just a violent drug gang involved in mafia-like tactics like taking over apartment complexes and trafficking in guns, drugs, and humans, and committing rape, torture, murder, and robbery. The organization is also a state-sponsored tool of asymmetric warfare—connected to the regime of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, a blended organization encompassing the state with non-state actors. The White House claimed TdA is “undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime in Venezuela.” Nicolás Maduro is believed to be the leader of the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group that provides material support “to foreign terrorist organizations threatening the peace and security of the United States, namely Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel.” Intercepted communications indicate TdA functions as enforcers for the Maduro regime.