Rubio confirms that the U.S. will continue sinking drug boats and confiscating sanctioned vessels following Maduro's capture

The United States has no intention of reversing its maritime offensive in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear this Sunday that Washington will continue to target vessels linked to drug trafficking and confiscate sanctioned ships carrying oil, a policy that has already resulted in dozens of fatalities at sea and keeps several countries in the region on edge.

In an interview with Meet the Press from NBC, Rubio denied that a war against Venezuela exists, but unambiguously defended the military operations ordered by President Donald Trump. He stated that it is about "enforcing the law," both in the fight against drug trafficking and in the imposition of oil sanctions.

"We will continue to target drug boats heading to the United States and we will keep seizing vessels sanctioned by court orders," stated the head of U.S. diplomacy, emphasizing that these actions will continue "until we see the changes we need to see."

The statements come after the event that has shaken the region this weekend, with the capture of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores in a U.S. military operation, confirmed by Donald Trump and acknowledged by the chavismo itself as an "aggression."

However, only in the last few months, the U.S. has carried out multiple "kinetic" attacks against alleged drug boats in international waters off Venezuela, the Caribbean, and the Eastern Pacific. The operations, even shared with official videos, have resulted in over 60 deaths this year, according to figures from the U.S. government itself.

Washington claims that the vessels operate for organizations classified as terrorists and that they transport drugs destined for U.S. territory. However, critics in the region warn that this is a policy of "shoot first and ask questions later," with reports even of survivors being executed at sea, which has heightened diplomatic tensions.

Rubio directly linked this offensive to Venezuelan oil. He insisted that the U.S. does not need this crude, but will not allow the world's largest reserves to remain, in his words, "in the hands of adversaries" like Russia, China, or Iran, nor will he permit the revenue to continue without benefiting the population.

“Oil cannot continue to enrich a handful of oligarchs while millions flee the country,” he said, recalling that more than eight million Venezuelans have emigrated in the last decade, a phenomenon he described as profoundly destabilizing for the entire region.