ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
The Trump administration said it has killed the leader of a drug cartel in Venezuela in coordination with the Venezuelan government. Over the last several months, the U.S. has killed dozens of people it claims are drug traffickers in boats off the coast of Venezuela. Here to talk about last night's announcement is NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram. Hello, Deepa.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning.
NADWORNY: So what do we know about the strike?
SHIVARAM: So Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said in a statement on X that this attack took place earlier this week, though he didn't cite a specific date. And he said it was, quote, "in full collaboration with Venezuelan security forces." It took place on a compound inside Venezuela, and he said that the U.S. and Venezuelan forces killed the leader of Tren de Aragua, who's known as Nino Guerrero. And SOUTHCOM Commander General Francis Donovan, he said Guerrero was, quote, "a wanted fugitive charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with ordering, directing and facilitating acts of terrorism and violence in the United States." So that's kind of the context of all of this. President Trump posted on social media late last night and called this attack retribution for the deaths of U.S. citizens who were killed by illegal immigrants.
NADWORNY: OK, wait. Connect those dots for me. How is the cartel leader tied to those deaths?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. So Trump has long blamed Tren de Aragua for violence in the U.S. and cited them as a reason for his mass deportation agenda, which you'll recall he talked a lot about during his campaign for president, right? And Trump also cites Tren de Aragua as one of the reasons that the U.S. has carried out dozens of strikes on boats off the coast of Venezuela that the administration says are carrying drugs, and that's happened over the last several, several months. Around 200 people, though, have died in those strikes, and many legal experts consider these to be extrajudicial killings. The Trump administration basically designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization, and so that's expanded the ways they go after members of that cartel. So that's kind of how all of these dots are connected and where the Trump administration is coming from.
NADWORNY: So in this case, the U.S. says Venezuela actually helped it carry out the attack. Remind us what U.S. relations are with Venezuela right now.
SHIVARAM: Right. So back in January, the U.S. military carried out an extraordinary capture of the country's president Nicolás Maduro, who's in the U.S. right now facing charges of narcoterrorism, conspiracy, cocaine importation, conspiracy weapons charges. He's pleaded not guilty, and the U.S. is now working with Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, as the acting leader of Venezuela. And in his post about the strike last night, Trump said the attack was, quote, "coordinated closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well."
And keep in mind, this strike is coming at a challenging time for Trump and his presidency, right? On a global stage, the president is still waging a war with Iran that he and Israel started. It's been disastrous for the economy and his poll numbers. And so to him, this attack in Venezuela is a win. It's something he's presenting as a win. In recent days, he's been talking about how successful U.S. relations are with Venezuela and claiming that that capture of Maduro, you know, the U.S. took over Venezuela. So to him, this is really a success, and in the middle of everything else going on on the world stage, something that he's really touting as a win.
NADWORNY: NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram. Thanks so much.
SHIVARAM: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
