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After a month of sitting back, the United States has conducted another air strike on an alleged cartel vessel in the Pacific Ocean. After killing more than 120 people in 2025, Donald Trump has been sitting on his hands for the better part of 2026. The US had only conducted two air strikes on naval vessels before the strike on February 9, 2026. Two people were killed in the strike, and another survivor escaped with injuries. Shockingly, it appears as though the US's kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro did not halt the Latin-American drug trade. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has moved on, refusing to speak on nearly anything other than his ‘impressive' economy.
Details of the strike
US Southern Command, which oversees all US military action in Latin America and the Caribbean, made a statement on February 9 announcing the successful attack. Southern Command called it a ‘kinetic attack' ordered by Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan. Southern Command claimed the vessel was operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization, and that the vessel was travelling along known narco-routes used by gangs. The announcement called both victims ‘Narcoterrorists, ' the label the US government has given all victims of its air strikes. The statement said that one victim survived the attack and that US Coast Guard agents were deployed to rescue the survivor.
The US also released footage of the strike, showing the black-and-white destruction of what appears to be a small, open-air vessel.
Months of naval air strikes
The US began initiating airstrikes on Venezuelan ships in the Caribbean Sea in September, under the guise of fighting narco-terrorism. Donald Trump, backed by Hegseth, outlined his mission to battle ‘maritime drug trafficking' in Latin America after the first strike. That first strike came on September 2, when an American military vessel sank a 39-foot speedboat filled with “a considerable amount of cargo.” This initial strike was one of the more legitimate, with the vessel hailing from a known trafficking centre, and multiple sources supporting the US's accusations of it being a criminal vessel. 11 people were killed in the first strike, according to Trump, all of them members of the gang Tren de Aragua.
Over the next six weeks, Trump carried out another four strikes, killing 16. There were drugs recovered in only one of the strikes. Venezuela has claimed that at least one of the boats attacked was a fishing vessel. Additionally, at least two of the victims have been confirmed as Colombian citizens without any attachment to the country of Venezuela, nor its organized crime groups. Since the initial attacks, Trump committed to his war on drugs, kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and taking control over Venezuela's economy.
Trump losing support
A poll released by AP-NORC in January shows more than 50% of American adults think Trump has gone ‘too far' with his use of the U.S. military for foreign interference. It appears as though filming and bragging about the deaths of people, even if they aren't Americans, is enough to turn away the majority of the population. AP-NORC, a centre run by the Associated Press, conducted the poll from January 8-11, shortly after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The poll found that 56% of American adults disapproved of Trump's actions in Venezuela and thought he had overstepped on military interventions abroad, as well as how the Republican Party has handled foreign policy as a whole.
What's next?
Since Trump's successful operation in Venezuela, and the subsequent successful operation to take control of its oil, imports and exports, Trump has claimed the U.S. will have a larger role in the Western Hemisphere. Since the operation in Venezuela, Trump has threatened military action in Colombia, predicted the collapse of Cuba and pushed for the U.S. acquisition of Greenland (again). Whether this is an example of Trump becoming power hungry or whether he realized the UN is powerless, Trump has been unleashed on Central America.
