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The US military on Friday said it carried out a new operation against a boat allegedly linked to drug trafficking networks in international waters in the Caribbean, near Venezuela, killing three members of the boat’s crew during the operation.
According to the Southern Command’s official account on X, the operation took place along a route identified as a common organised crime corridor.
The action was carried out by Operation Southern Lance, which since August has participated in multiple similar interventions in both the Caribbean and the Pacific.
The death toll from these US military operations has now reached 110 since mid-2025. This week alone there have been three attacks under the command of the new commander Francis Donovan, marking an escalation in the intensity of actions in the region.
US strikes continue despite recognition of Rodríguez
The US military operations are continuing despite Washington’s recognition of the interim government of acting president Delcy Rodríguez in Venezuela, though the Trump administration has decided on a shift in its military strategy.
On Friday, Trump announced the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, which until now patrolled the Caribbean coast near Venezuela, was heading to the Middle East.
The crew was notified on Thursday. US sources say the ship will not return to its home ports until late April or early May. The change leaves questions about how the military presence in the Caribbean will be redeployed after months of sustained operations.
The US naval and air presence in international waters in the Caribbean was a prelude to the military intervention on 3 January, when US forces detained Nicolás Maduro in Caracas for transfer to a federal prison in New York.