{"id":201472,"date":"2026-02-24T15:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-strike-on-alleged-drug-boat-in-caribbean-kills-3-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:03:10","slug":"u-s-strike-on-alleged-drug-boat-in-caribbean-kills-3-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-strike-on-alleged-drug-boat-in-caribbean-kills-3-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. strike on alleged drug boat in Caribbean kills 3 – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The U.S. struck another alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing three people, the military<\/a> announced Monday afternoon.
More than 40 such strikes have been carried out in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific<\/a> since September, killing at least 137 people, according to statements from the Defense Department tracked by NBC News.
The targeted boat on Monday was \u201ctransiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,\u201d U.S. Southern Command said in a post on X<\/a>, adding that no U.S. forces were harmed. It did not provide evidence that the boat or people on board were involved in drug trafficking.
U.S. Southern Command said that Gen. Francis L. Donovan directed the strike. Donovan, a Marine Corps general and head of U.S. Southern Command, visited Caracas, Venezuela, last week, where he met U.S. service members and interagency partners, U.S. Southern Command said at the time<\/a>.
Venezuelan state television, VTV, said that Donovan had met with acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials, including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
The U.S. Justice Department has indicted both Padrino and Cabello in the past on drug trafficking charges. The Venezuelan armed forces rejected the accusations against Padrino, Cabello, and other military and political leaders who had indictments against them unsealed in 2020.
Donovan’s visit was the first by a military delegation since the U.S. captured then-President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro on Jan. 3, and it adds to a list of high-ranking U.S. officials<\/a> who have visited the country since the operation as the Trump administration seeks to exert control over the country\u2019s new government, led by Rodr\u00edguez.
Rodr\u00edguez has maintained that Maduro<\/a> is still the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
Monday\u2019s strike comes three days after a strike in the eastern Pacific also killed three people. The strikes have been criticized by members of Congress, primarily Democrats, as well as some advocacy groups<\/a> over the legal justification for the attacks. President Donald Trump has repeatedly argued that the strikes are preventing illicit drugs from entering the U.S.
Raquel Coronell Uribe is a breaking news reporter.\u00a0
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeThe U.S. struck another alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing three people, the military announced Monday afternoon.More than 40 such strikes have been carried out in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September, killing at least 137 people, according to statements from the Defense Department […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":201473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-201472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}