Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said an overnight strike in the Caribbean destroyed a vessel allegedly run by Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, killing six in international waters, and released a short video of the blast.
- The attack is the 10th since early September, bringing the reported death toll to about 43, with operations expanding this week into the eastern Pacific.
- The Pentagon ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to U.S. Southern Command after recent bomber flights near Venezuela, deepening a regional military buildup that already includes F-35s, destroyers and a submarine.
- Trump said he will not seek a declaration of war, stated that land-based strikes could follow, and said the administration will brief Congress on the campaign.
- UN human rights experts and several lawmakers questioned the legal basis and evidence for the strikes, as two survivors of an earlier attack were repatriated and one was released by Ecuadorian authorities for lack of proof of a crime.