New Delhi: The US ‘capturing’ Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife follows months of military pressure that the Trump administration had been subjecting the oil-rich Latin American country to.
In what he described as a counter-narcotics campaign, US President Donald Trump ordered the US military to launch strikes in the sea. To economically suffocate Caracas, Trump had ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving Venezuela on 16 December.
After the first major strike on 2 September, the Trump administration informed the US Congress that the country is now in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels and labeled those killed as “unlawful combatants”. A look at the strikes that the US undertook since September.
2 September: The first strike was carried out by the US against a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela and was operated by Tren de Aragua. According to Trump, all 11 people on the boat were killed. He also posted a video clip of a vessel appearing to explode in flames.
15 September: On this day, the second strike was carried out by the US military against an alleged drug boat, leading to three casualties.
19 September: The US military carried out a strike against an alleged drug-smuggling vessel.
3 October: Secretary of War Pete Hugseth ordered the fourth strike on a small boat that he said was carrying drugs.
14 October: Trump announced that a small boat allegedly transporting drugs was taken out, adding that six people were killed.
16 October: A suspected drug-smuggling vessel was taken out in the Caribbean, said Trump, killing two people and leaving two survivors who were on the semi-submersible craft.
17 October: Three people were reportedly killed in this US military strike. According to Secretary of War Hegseth, the vessel was carrying “substantial amounts of narcotics” and associated with a Colombian rebel group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN.
21 October: The US military launched its eighth strike against an alleged drug-carrying vessel, killing two people in the eastern Pacific, Hegseth said.
22 October: Hegseth announced the ninth strike by the US in the eastern Pacific. Three were killed.
24 October: Six were killed as the American military struck a suspected drug-running boat.
27 October: Three more strikes were carried out in the eastern Pacific by the US, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor.
29 October: Another strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs was undertaken by the US military, marking the 14th such strike, killing all four people aboard the ship.
1 November: Hegseth announced the 15th strike, saying three people were killed.
4 November: The US Secretary of War posted on social media that two people were killed aboard a vessel in the eastern Pacific.
6 November: Hegseth announced the 17th strike, which killed three people.
9 November: The US military struck two vessels in the eastern Pacific, killing six people, according to an announcement from Hegseth the following day.
10 November: A social media post from the U.S. military’s Southern Command announced a boat transporting drugs was taken out in the Caribbean and four were killed.
15 November: Three people were reportedly dead after the U.S. military conducted its 21st strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific, according to a post from the Southern Command.
10 December: An oil tanker was seized off the coast of Venezuela by the US after the ship left that country with about 2 million barrels of heavy crude.
15 December: The Southern Command announced that the U.S. military struck three alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing eight people, in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
On Dec. 15, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on three vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known… pic.twitter.com/IQfCVvUpau
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) December 16, 2025
17 December: The US military said it attacked a boat smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, leading to four casualties.
18 December: Two more strikes against boats smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific, five people were killed.
22 December: Four were killed when a boat smuggling drugs was targeted in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
29 December: Trump told reporters that the US struck a facility where boats accused of carrying drugs “load up.” He, however, declined to say if the U.S. military or the CIA carried out the strike and where it occurred.
On the same date, the US military said it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, leading to the death of two people on the 30th such strike.
30 December: The CIA was behind the drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, reported AP on this day, an attack that happened earlier in December. It was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the US began strikes in September.
30 December: Carrying on with its relentless strikes on alleged drug smuggling vessels, the US military struck three more boats.
31 December: The US military said it attacked two more boats, killing five people who were allegedly smuggling drugs along known trafficking routes.
3 January: Trump drops a bomb announcing that Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro has been captured and flown out of the country along with his wife. The US, he said, carried out a ‘large-scale strike’ in the early hours of Saturday morning.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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