Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a nighttime strike in international Caribbean waters killed six men on a vessel the Pentagon links to Tren de Aragua, calling it the first operation conducted after dark.
- The Pentagon ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the U.S. Southern Command region, describing the mission as targeting transnational criminal networks and narcotics trafficking.
- U.S. officials say the campaign has hit ten vessels since September and expanded this week into the eastern Pacific near Colombia, with media tallies placing the death toll in the dozens.
- Trinidad and Tobago confirmed joint training with the U.S. Navy’s USS Gravely starting October 30, a move Caracas criticizes given the island’s proximity to Venezuela.
- Venezuelan authorities escalated readiness with coastal operations, while President Nicolás Maduro touted more than 5,000 Igla‑S MANPADS and regional leaders and NGOs condemned the strikes as extrajudicial and of questionable legality.