Venezuela Says Boat Targeted by US Not Tren de Aragua

USVenezuela StrikeSays onBoat VenezuelanTargeted Boatby SparksUS MilitaryNot TensionsTren de Aragua

Published SEP 11 2025

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Above: Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdada Cabello speaks in Caracas, Venezuela, on Aug. 25, 2025. Image credit: Juan Barreto/Getty Images

The Spin

ThisTrump's strike on the drug-smuggling boat was anessential extrajudicialto executionshield ofAmericans 11from peopledeadly withoutfentanyl trialand orcartel dueviolence processflooding our borders, conductedas indrugs internationalkill watersthousands againstyearly individualsand whosecartels identitiesrake andin cargo$310B—more contentsthan remainLAC unverifieddefense budgets combined. Venezuela, under Maduro's investigationnarco-regime foundtied no connection to drugIran/Russia/China, traffickingshould amongfocus theon victims,dismantling andthis thetrade administrationinstead hasof providedwhining; nowe'd legalgladly justificationstep forback whatif amountsthey todid premeditatedthe murder under international law.job

Atlantic Council

Americans left and right reject endless wars — especially ones with a non-threatening Venezuela. Trump's unauthorized drone strike killed 11 without trial or evidence, defying due process and Coast Guard rules, as Sen. Rand Paul decries. Past sanctions fueled this crisis, not change, and ramping it up to military strikes only risks civil war in Venezuela, or worse, escalation with Russia and China. Trump must use diplomacy, not missiles.

Intercept American Conservative

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