US strikes Caribbean vessel as commander hands in resignation amid civilian deaths

The US military has reportedly struck another vessel in the Caribbean, as the admiral overseeing the Trump administration’s military campaign announced an early resignation, raising questions about the legality and human cost of the operations.

A US official, speaking anonymously, confirmed the latest strike on Thursday, noting that for the first time some crew members reportedly survived.

No further details were provided, and both the Pentagon and President Donald Trump have yet to comment publicly.

The strike marks at least the sixth such attack since early September. At least 27 people have been killed in the attacks.

The Trump administration claims these operations target “narco-terrorists” linked to Venezuela, portraying them as part of a wider war against transnational crime. Critics, however, have questioned the legality and morality of the strikes, which have been condemned as "extrajudicial" killings.

Legal experts and human rights groups argue that Washington’s campaign violates international law by bypassing due process and targeting individuals without judicial oversight.

Venezuela has strongly denounced the operations. Its ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, called on the Security Council to investigate a “series of assassinations.”

Venezuela slams ‘serious’ US escalation in Caribbean, urges UN Security Council to intervene

Venezuela has condemned the United States for its military buildup in the Caribbean and off its coast during a session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Speaking at the UN on Thursday, Moncada decried a recent US attack on a small boat as “a new set of extrajudicial executions,” saying six people were killed, including two Trinidadian fishermen. “There is a killer prowling the Caribbean,” he said, holding up a local newspaper that chronicled the victims’ lives.

The attacks have left fishing communities across the Caribbean gripped by fear. Fishermen from Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, whose territories are separated by only a few miles, say they now risk being mistaken for smugglers.

“People from different countries are suffering the effects of these massacres,” Moncada warned, adding that Washington is “fabricating a war.”

While Trinidad’s prime minister has not commented on the latest attack, she previously endorsed US military actions in the region. But local families have voiced growing anguish.

In Trinidad’s Las Cuevas village, relatives of 26-year-old fisherman Chad Joseph say he disappeared while returning home by boat from Venezuela and is now feared dead in one of the US strikes. “I don’t want to believe that this is my child,” his mother said in an interview.

Joseph’s family and others in the region say they’ve been left to piece together what happened through social media rumors and news reports, as no government has released the names of those killed.

Meanwhile, Washington’s military presence in the Caribbean has expanded sharply. Since late August, the US has deployed warships, fighter jets, a nuclear submarine, and thousands of troops to the region—moves that critics interpret as an intimidation tactic aimed at Venezuela’s government.

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Trump has also authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations inside the country and has floated the idea of ground strikes.

In a televised address, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Washington is seeking regime change under the guise of counter-narcotics operations.

“No to CIA-orchestrated coups d’état. No to regime change, which reminds us of the endless, failed wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and so on,” he said.

Amid growing controversy, Admiral Alvin Holsey, head of the US Southern Command overseeing these operations, announced his resignation on Thursday, just a year into his post and two years before his term was to end.

No reason was given for his early departure, but it came as criticism mounts over both the mission’s legality and its mounting civilian toll.

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