The Senate voted down a proposed resolution that would have required congressional approval for military action against Venezuela; the 49-51 vote was largely along party lines, with only two Republicans breaking with the Trump administration (Politico)
It was the second time in a month that a resolution to assert congressional power over the use of military force failed (NYT)
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that weeks of deadly U.S. strikes on boats near South and Central America constitute an “armed conflict” against drug groups, but Congress has not authorized these military actions (CFR)
The U.S. military struck an alleged drug-trafficking vessel for the seventeenth time on Thursday, killing three (AP)
Democratic Lawmakers Unsatisfied by Trump Administration’s Strike Justifications
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered a closed-door briefing to allay concerns ahead of a Thursday Senate vote to prevent military action in Venezuela without Congressional authorization; Democratic lawmakers said the Trump administration still has not clarified the legal basis, scope, or objective of its widening campaign against alleged drug traffickers (NYT)
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch (R-ID) said the administration had kept lawmakers “fully advised” and “fully satisfied” (NPR)
U.S. Strike Kills Two People in Eastern Pacific
This brings the death toll from U.S. strikes near South America to at least sixty-six people in sixteen strikes (X)
The New York Times reported that some White House advisors are pushing to oust Maduro and developing plans for potential military action; a White House spokesperson said Trump is targeting “narcoterrorists” and “anything else is speculation” (NYT)
More U.S. Strikes in the Caribbean
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military conducted an airstrike targeting a vessel accused of drug trafficking in the Caribbean, killing all three men aboard (Reuters)
President Donald Trump said he does not expect the United States to enter a war with Venezuela despite escalating military activity in the Caribbean; still, he reiterated criticisms of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and suggested the Venezuelan leader may not remain in power much longer (TheHill)
Venezuelan Opposition Divided Over U.S. Intervention
Rival opposition leaders remain split as the United States escalates regional military deployments and covert pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, with María Corina Machado backing a harder line and Henrique Capriles urging renewed talks; the rift comes amid arrests, exile, and citizenship challenges targeting dissidents (Reuters)
Meanwhile, in the United States, Senate leaders said the Pentagon has ignored multiple requests for further information behind U.S. military activity in the region; the Pentagon has identified possible targets within Venezuelan land, even as U.S. President Donald Trump indicated he was not considering land strikes (NYT)
Pentagon Briefs Lawmakers on Boat Strikes
Pentagon officials told lawmakers they did not need to “positively” identify people on alleged drug boats before bombing them, only conclude they were linked to drug trafficking within three degrees of separation, Representative Sara Jacobs (D-CA) said after an intelligence briefing (NYT)
Jacobs and others have argued that the strikes appear illegal, an allegation the Trump administration has disputed; both Democrats and Republicans have sought more details on the strikes (CNN)
U.S. Military Strikes Target Four Alleged Drug Boats in Eastern Pacific
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a social media post that the U.S. military killed fourteen people it claims were drug smugglers on Monday (Reuters)
Hegseth said a Mexican search and rescue team rescued one survivor; Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Mexico does “not agree” with the boat attacks (LA Times)
U.S. military strikes have now killed fifty-seven people since September (BBC)
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that a Homeland Security agent secretly attempted to persuade Nicolás Maduro’s chief pilot to divert the president’s aircraft for a U.S. arrest on narcotrafficking charges; the effort occurred alongside Trump-authorized covert actions and a doubled $50 million reward for Maduro’s capture, though the pilot ultimately rejected the approach (AP)
Separately, Reuters reported that U.S. military personnel involved in the U.S. confrontation with Venezuela have been required to sign non-disclosure agreements, raising further concerns in Congress about secrecy and continued operational escalation (Reuters)
Venezuela-Trinidad Relations Deteriorate Amid U.S. Confrontation
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ordered the immediate freeze of joint natural gas projects with Trinidad and Tobago, accusing Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of aligning with U.S. efforts to pressure Caracas after a U.S. warship docked in Port of Spain (Reuters)
U.S. and Trinidad Military Exercises
Venezuela accused the CIA and Trinidad and Tobago of coordinating a “false flag” operation to justify military confrontation, referring to U.S.-Trinidad naval drills in the Caribbean, as it claimed that it detained U.S.-backed mercenaries supporting the operation; the charge follows Trump’s confirmation of new covert operations against Caracas (Reuters)
Maduro Condemns U.S. Military Activities
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed the United States is “fabricating” a war as the USS Gerald R. Ford approaches Venezuelan waters; Maduro also began legal proceedings to strip exiled opposition leader Leopoldo López of his nationality for supporting U.S. military deployments (AP)
Hegseth Orders Warships to Latin America
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the deployment of the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford and its corresponding warships and attack planes to waters off of Latin America (NYT)
Hegseth also said a U.S. strike overnight destroyed a vessel linked to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, killing six people; the attack was the first conducted at night, as the Trump administration continues comparing its campaign to the post-9/11 war on terror (AP)
Hegseth likewise justified a recent U.S. decision to repatriate the survivors of a different Caribbean strike by citing protocols during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (Reuters)
Still, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed a declaration of war against the cartels would be unnecessary, even as he added that strikes on land would soon begin (Guardian)
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro warned of mass resistance if the United States intervened militarily within Venezuelan land (CNN)
Separately, the Trump administration sanctioned Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his family, and his interior minister, saying that Petro allowed drug trafficking to “flourish” (Treasury)
Petro vowed to fight the sanctions and maintained he had long worked to counter drug trafficking; the sanctions followed Petro’s criticism of Trump’s military campaign against alleged drug boats from Latin America (CNN)
U.S. Military Bombs Two Boats in Pacific Ocean
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed the boats carried “narco-terrorists” without specifying the name of their group or the substance they were allegedly trafficking; the geographic expansion of the Trump administration’s campaign against alleged drug boats comes amid domestic and international calls for more robust evidence justifying the strikes (FT)
He did not say which country the boats departed from but vowed the strikes would “continue, day after day” (The Hill)
Washington has now reported killing thirty-seven people without identifying them or providing proof of drug-related activity (BBC)
Trump claimed that his actions were legal and said the United States might also hit land targets; if the military took that step, Trump said that his administration would “probably” explain the operations to Congress (NYT)
UN Experts Condemn U.S. Strikes in the Carribean
A panel of UN human rights experts said recent U.S. attacks on suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean violated international law and amounted to “extrajudicial executions,” warning that both covert and direct military action against Venezuela would further breach the UN Charter (Reuters)
U.S. Navy Captures Survivors From Caribbean Strike
The U.S. Navy is detaining two people aboard a warship in international waters after an earlier strike targeted their semi-submersible vessel, which U.S. officials said was involved in drug trafficking; the incident marks the first in which a strike left survivors and is raising difficult legal choices about whether to treat them as wartime detainees, hand them to civilian prosecutors, or release them (NYT)
Venezuela Appeals to UN Security Council
Venezuela urged the UN Security Council to rule that recent U.S. attacks on vessels near its coast violated international law, claiming the strikes killed twenty-seven civilians; President Nicolás Maduro denounced the Trump administration for openly authorizing CIA operations against his government, while Washington defended its actions as self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter (Reuters)
The Associated Press reported that Venezuela had offered the United States a deal in which President Nicolás Maduro would resign in three years before transferring power to Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who would finish Maduro’s term but not seek reelection; the Trump administration dismissed the offer, maintaining that Maduro’s government lacks legitimacy (AP)
Meanwhile, Alvin Holsey, who is responsible for U.S. forces in Latin America, including the campaign against drug boats in the Caribbean, will step down around a year after starting the job; U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the move but did not provide a reason for the departure (X)
Two unnamed sources told CNN that Holsey had raised concerns about the military operations in the Caribbean not being lawful (CNN)
A Pentagon spokesperson denied that Holsey expressed reservations (X)
Trump Says He Greenlit Covert CIA Actions Inside Venezuela
Trump said he authorized CIA action and threatened to carry out military strikes inside the country in response to flows of migrants and drugs (AP)
Trump acknowledged the CIA authorization hours after the New York Times broke the story, claiming with scant evidence that his administration had “almost totally stopped” drug trafficking by sea and “now we’ll stop it by land” (NYT;Politico)
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said he rejected the prospect of war, while Venezuela’s foreign ministry said Trump’s actions “against the peace and stability of Venezuela” violated international law (NPR)
Over the past few weeks, the U.S. military has killed dozens of people in targeted strikes on boats off the coast of Venezuela. Trump has claimed without evidence that the boats were engaged in drug smuggling (BBC)
The campaign has prompted pushback domestically—with bipartisan U.S. lawmakers seeking more details—and from Venezuela’s government (NBC)
The recent U.S. strikes in the Caribbean may have not only killed Venezuelans, according to media reports; two unnamed people briefed by the Pentagon on the strikes told CNN that at least one strike targeted Colombians on a boat departing from Colombia (CNN)
Trinidad and Tobago police said they were investigating the possibility that two citizens of the country were among those killed (AFP)
U.S. Military Kills Six People in Boat Off Venezuelan Coast
Trump claimed that intelligence revealed the vessel was associated with “narcoterrorist networks” but did not provide further details; it is at least the fifth such deadly strike in recent weeks (AP)
Venezuela Shutters Oslo Embassy
Venezuela is closing its embassy in Norway after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to opposition leader María Corina Machado; the Norwegian government called the closure “regrettable” but did not provide an official reason for the decision (Guardian)
Machado blamed President Nicolás Maduro’s administration for the shooting of two Venezuelans, an activist and a political consultant, in Colombia; Maduro’s government did not immediately comment on the matter (Reuters)
Meanwhile, Colombian police said Venezuelan human rights activist Yendri Omar Velásquez Rodríguez and political consultant Luis Alejandro Peche Arteaga were wounded in a targeted shooting in Bogotá; both men, who fled Venezuela alleging political persecution, are in stable condition as authorities investigate (AP)
New U.S. Counter-Narcotics Task Force in Latin America
The Pentagon formed a new joint task force led by Marines from Camp Lejeune to oversee anti-drug operations in Latin America, following a wave of U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats; U.S. President Donald Trump is also weighing possible land strikes in Venezuela (Reuters)
Venezuelan Opposition Leader
The Nobel committee praised Machado’s work for a “peaceful transition to democracy” (Nobel Foundation)
The Maduro administration continues to crack down on domestic opposition following its election loss last year, while in recent months, tensions have flared with the United States over a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean (CBS/AP)
Machado has strong backers within the Trump administration: earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised her as the “personification of resilience, tenacity, and patriotism” (Time)
Washington says it is targeting drug smuggling with its military strikes on boats near Venezuela, while Maduro administration officials have accused the United States of trying to topple it (CFR)
Venezuela Requests UN Security Council Emergency Session
The request aims to address recent U.S. military actions off its coast, as Venezuela claims Washington is seeking regime change and threatening regional stability; the Trump administration has suggested that U.S. military operations are targeting drug traffickers (AFP)
Trump Ends Venezuela Diplomacy
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered an end to negotiations led by envoy Richard Grenell with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, frustrated by Caracas’s refusal to concede to U.S. demands or acknowledge drug trafficking ties; the move comes as officials warn Trump may expand military operations against cartels or Maduro’s government (NYT)
Venezuela Warns of Extremist Plot to Bomb U.S. Embassy
National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said that Venezuela had warned Washington of a “false flag” plot by extremist opposition sectors to plant explosives at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas; the United States, which withdrew its diplomatic staff from Caracas after ties were severed in 2019, has not yet commented on the claim (Reuters)
Trump Says U.S. Military Struck Another Boat Near Venezuela
Trump alleged the boat was carrying drugs (Reuters)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said recent U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean were lawful, arguing that the targeted boats belonged to groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations; Trump claimed the campaign has curbed drug smuggling and hinted at a forthcoming “phase 2” (Reuters)
Venezuelan officials have criticized the air campaign, and the country’s foreign minister said Caracas reached out to the pope in an effort to restore peace (Latin Times)
Trump Declares U.S. Is in Armed Conflict With Drug Cartels
A confidential notice to Congress said President Donald Trump has determined the United States is in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels, calling suspected smugglers “unlawful combatants” to justify recent U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean that killed seventeen people (NYT)
It marks a sweeping assertion of war powers without prior Congressional approval (Politico)
Lawmakers from both parties had called for the Pentagon to provide legal justification for its recent deadly strikes on boats near Venezuela during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday (WSJ)
The White House claimed, without providing evidence, that the boats carried drug traffickers (NPR)
Additionally, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino accused the United States of threatening national security after five “imperialist combat planes” were detected off the country’s Caribbean coast; Padrino added that the flyover was a “provocation” and “vulgarity” while calling for Washington to end its recent pressure campaign against the Maduro government (Reuters)