The U.S. government announced Wednesday a new attack on a vessel in international waters of the Pacific, the twelfth such attack since September 2. Washington claimed the ships were carrying narcotics, without providing any evidence to support those claims.

By cnnespanol.cnn.com

So far, 64 people have died in these attacks in the Caribbean and the Pacific, which have been carried out without judicial proceedings or a declaration of war from the United States Congress.

The Trump administration is engaged in a growing confrontation with the governments of Venezuela and Colombia, with an escalation of cross-statements between Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and also with Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

The operations in the Caribbean began after the deployment of US warships to the area, in what Washington insists is a mission to combat drug cartels, but the Venezuelan government maintains that the US is instead seeking regime change.

Days ago, Maduro described the attacks as “serial executions” and asked the UN to investigate the matter. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino considered it “an undeclared war,” and the Foreign Ministry denounced Washington’s “military threat.” Petro, for his part, said he would always be “against genocide and assassinations by those in power in the Caribbean.”

This is the timeline of the attacks:

September 2, first attack

The first US attack on a vessel in the Caribbean was on September 2.

President Donald Trump announced the offensive on his social media and said that under his orders the United States Armed Forces “conducted a military strike against narco-terrorists of the Tren de Aragua identified in the area of responsibility of the Southern Command.”

“The Tren de Aragua is a State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization that operates under the control of Nicolás Maduro and is responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and acts of violence and terror in the United States and the Western Hemisphere,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"Let this serve as a warning to anyone thinking of bringing drugs into the United States. BEWARE!" he added.

CNN reported that Defense Department officials did not present conclusive evidence that the targets of the first attack were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, and that those who reported on it could not accurately determine their direction.

11 people died in this attack.

September 15

Just under two weeks later, the U.S. Armed Forces carried out another attack on a vessel in international waters, in which 3 people died.

Trump said the ship was allegedly “carrying illegal narcotics” from Venezuela.

“These extremely violent drug cartels represent a threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy, and vital interests,” he added.

This second attack occurred amid growing tensions with that country, as the United States deployed military assets in the region.

At that time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio anticipated that there would be more activity in the Caribbean because the U.S. “is going to fight the drug cartels that are flooding American streets.”

September 19

Four days later, Trump announced another lethal military strike against a suspected drug-trafficking vessel that he said was affiliated with a designated terrorist organization.

“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics and was traveling along a known drug trafficking route on its way to poison Americans,” Trump posted on Truth Social along with a video of the operation.

Three people died in this attack.

October 3

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the US Armed Forces carried out a fourth attack in which 4 people were killed.

The attack took place in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela, Hegseth wrote in a social media post.

The official did not say which alleged terrorist organization the boat was linked to, but added that “our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people on board were narco-terrorists and they were operating on a known drug trafficking transit route.”

October 14

Six people died in the fifth US attack on a vessel off the coast of Venezuela.

Once again, President Trump said the vessel was “affiliated with a designated terrorist organization,” but he did not name any specific organization or provide evidence to support that claim.

At this point, the death toll from these operations had reached 27, and the United States government was defending each of the attacks.

In a letter to Congress in early October, the Pentagon said that Trump had determined that the United States is in an “armed conflict” with the drug cartels that his administration designated as terrorist organizations, and that the cartels’ traffickers are “illegal combatants.”

But this raised concerns even among some conservatives, and at least one vessel targeted by US forces had turned around before being hit, CNN reported, indicating that it did not pose an imminent threat to the United States or its forces.

October 16

The United States carried out a sixth attack against a vessel in the Caribbean. This would have been the first operation in which not all crew members on board were killed.

The two survivors, originally from Ecuador and Colombia, were sent back to their countries.

“At least 25,000 Americans would die if I allowed this submarine to reach land. The two surviving terrorists will be returned to their home countries, Ecuador and Colombia, for arrest and prosecution,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Jeison Obando Pérez, 34, was identified as the survivor repatriated to Colombia in a post on X by the country's Interior Minister, Armando Benedetti. Pérez arrived"with brain trauma, sedated, drugged, breathing with a ventilator," said Benedetti, who added that he had received medical attention.

As for the survivor from Ecuador, he is Andrés Fernando Tufiño Chila, 41, according to a report from the Ecuadorian National Police obtained by CNN. He arrived in the country Saturday morning and underwent a medical evaluation.

The Ecuadorian Attorney General's Office reported on Monday that there is no information indicating that Tufiño Chila committed a crime in Ecuadorian territory. However, U.S. court documents indicate that he was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned in 2020 for drug smuggling off the coast of Mexico before being deported.

“No, no… He isn’t. He’s not a criminal,” said Tufiño Chila’s sister, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, in statements to CNN from a small coastal town near Guayaquil, Ecuador.

October 17

Two days after the offensive, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the seventh vessel attacked was affiliated with a Colombian terrorist organization and had “substantial quantities of narcotics” on board.

All three crew members on board the ship died.

“These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere; they use violence, murder, and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security, and poison our people,” Hegseth wrote.

"The United States armed forces will treat these organizations as the terrorists they are: they will be hunted down and killed, just like Al Qaeda."

The attacks sparked public clashes with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who accused the United States of killing an innocent Colombian citizen during one of its attacks on ships in the Caribbean. Trump announced he would cancel all US payments and subsidies to the country.

October 21 and 22

The U.S. Armed Forces carried out lethal attacks on two ships in the Pacific, killing everyone on board each vessel, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Two people died in the eighth attack and three in the ninth.

Hegseth stated that the ship attacked in the Pacific was “operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and was involved in drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific” and that “our intelligence knew it was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling.”

The US offensives against vessels in the Pacific appear to mark an expansion of the US military campaign, as the previous seven attacks were directed against ships in the Caribbean Sea.

“The narco-terrorists who intend to bring poison to our shores will find no refuge anywhere in our hemisphere,” Hegseth declared.

October 24

The tenth attack, the latest known so far, occurred this Friday.

The Secretary of Defense declared that the U.S. carried out a night attack against a ship that he said was operating the Tren de Aragua in the Caribbean.

October 27, a multi-pronged offensive

In the eleventh offensive, Hegseth reported the first multiple operation, with three attacks on four vessels in international waters of the eastern Pacific on Monday the 27th.

The official reported that 14 people died on the ships “operated by designated terrorist organizations” and one survivor was being sought.

“The four vessels were known to our intelligence apparatus, they traveled along known drug trafficking routes and were transporting narcotics,” the Secretary of Defense stated.

October 29

The United States Armed Forces carried out an attack on a vessel in the Pacific Ocean that left four dead, Hegseth reported.

“This vessel, like all others, was identified by our intelligence as being involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known drug trafficking route, and was transporting narcotics,” the Secretary of Defense said in a post on X. He added that U.S. forces were not harmed.

November 1st

US forces carried out another attack against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea, which left three dead.

Hegseth told X that three men, whom he identified as “narco-terrorists,” were killed in the operation, which he said took place in international waters. He noted that no U.S. military personnel were injured in the attack.

The vessel “was transporting narcotics” and “traveling along a known drug trafficking route,” according to Hegseth, citing U.S. intelligence.