US military kills 8 in latest attacks on vessels in eastern Pacific 

The United States has said it killed eight people in new attacks on vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean, days after the US military seized a Venezuelan oil tanker amid Washington’s continuing military buildup in Latin America.

In a post on social media, the US Military Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said that “lethal kinetic strikes” targeted three vessels in international waters on Monday, at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Eight people were killed in total, SOUTHCOM said in a statement.

“Three in the first vessel, two in the second and three in the third,” it said, while claiming without providing any evidence that those killed were linked to drug trafficking.

At least 90 people have been killed in similar US attacks on dozens of vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela since September, in what international law experts have criticised as extrajudicial killings by the US military.

US lawmakers have questioned Hegseth over his role in the attacks, including whether he personally ordered a second strike on a boat targeting two people who had survived a first attack and were left clinging to the debris in September.

The Pentagon has also deployed warships, a submarine, drones and fighter jets to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, in what it claims are efforts to tackle drug smuggling in the region.

Venezuela said the attacks and US military buildup were aimed at allowing “external powers to rob Venezuela’s immeasurable oil and gas wealth“, even before US forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week, with US President Donald Trump telling reporters, “I assume we’re going to keep the oil.”

The latest attacks on vessels in Latin American waters come as the US continues to build up its considerable military presence in the region surrounding Venezuela, with Trinidad and Tobago saying on Monday that it had authorised US military aircraft to use its airports.

Trinidad and Tobago said it had given the green light for the US military to use its airports “in the coming weeks”, adding that Washington would use them for “logistical” operations, including “facilitating supply replenishment and routine personnel rotations”.

The Caribbean island nation, which is located only 12km (7.4 miles) from Venezuela at its closest point, has been supportive of the US military buildup in the region, in contrast to some other Central and South American leaders.

Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has said she would rather see drug traffickers “blown to pieces” than have them kill citizens of her nation.

In response, Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro again said that his country would stop supplying gas to Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, according to the Venezuelan state television channel Telesur.