The United States has carried out its latest military strike against an alleged drug boat off Latin America, as US President Donald Trump raises pressure on Venezuela with a major military buildup in the region.

The US military struck a vessel believed to be transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people on board, the Pentagon said on Sunday.

“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” US Southern Command said in a social media post.

The announcement of the strike came hours after Washington’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, arrived in the Caribbean Sea.

The deployment of the carrier has raised fears that the Trump administration could be readying itself for imminent military action against Venezuela.

While the Trump administration has cast the military actions in the region as an effort to counter illicit drug flows, Caracas sees the moves as a pretext to force Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power.

Trump, who said last week he had “sort of” made up his mind on the possibility of military action against Venezuela, on Sunday suggested that his administration could hold talks with Maduro.

“We’ll see how that turns out. But they would like to talk,” Trump told reporters.

Earlier on Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Washington would designate Cartel de los Soles, a criminal organisation that the Trump administration claims is headed by Maduro, a “foreign terrorist organization” (FTO).

“Headed by the illegitimate Nicolas Maduro, the group has corrupted the institutions of government in Venezuela and is responsible for terrorist violence conducted by and with other designated FTOs as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe,” Rubio said in a post in X.

Rubio did not provide evidence for his claims.

The US has conducted at least 21 military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific since September, killing some 80 people.

International law and human rights experts say the attacks amount to extrajudicial executions, even if those targeted are suspected of drug trafficking.

The Trump administration has so far provided no evidence to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were “narcoterrorists.”

‘Operation Southern Spear’

On Saturday, the Reuters news agency reported that senior Trump administration officials held three meetings at the White House this week to discuss options for possible military action against Venezuela.

The reported meetings come as the Trump administration has continued to significantly expand the US military’s presence in Latin America, deploying F-35 aircraft, warships and a nuclear submarine.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon said the Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group, which includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier, had arrived in the Caribbean with at least 4,000 sailors and dozens of “tactical aircraft” on board.

There are now about 12,000 US sailors and Marines in the region, in what US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday formally named “Operation Southern Spear”.

Under the US Constitution, Congress has the sole power to declare war.

But Trump has said that he would not “necessarily ask for a declaration of war” in order to continue killing people “that are bringing drugs into our country.

Rear Admiral Paul Lanzilotta, who commands the strike group, said it will bolster an already large force of American warships to “protect our nation’s security and prosperity against narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere”.

In Trinidad and Tobago, which is located just 11 kilometres (seven miles) off the Venezuelan coast, officials said troops had begun training exercises with the US military.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sean Sobers, who has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s strikes, said the exercises were the second such drills in less than a month and would help address violent crime linked to the country’s status as a stopover point for drug shipments.

Venezuela, which has cast the drills as an act of aggression, has yet to comment on the arrival of the US aircraft carrier.

Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the US, has accused the US government of “fabricating a new eternal war” against him and his country.

On Sunday, Maduro wrote on his Facebook page that the Venezuelan people are “ready to defend their homeland against any criminal aggression”.

Last week, Venezuela’s government announced a “massive” mobilisation of troops and civilians to defend against possible attack by the US.