JTF Southern Spear killed 6 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 5th strike, ~17 campaign deaths
On October 14, 2025, the U.S. military conducted an airstrike on a small vessel in the Caribbean Sea off the Venezuelan coast, killing six people. Trump claimed the vessel was affiliated with a terrorist organization and the victims were drug traffickers, but families identified them as civilian fishermen and farm workers. The strike was conducted without congressional authorization or military adjudication of combatant status.