Still image of the small boat destroyed by the US SOUTHCOM in the Eastern Pacific on February 9, 2026. Photo: X/@Southcom/screenshot.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—US Southern Command reported a new extrajudicial execution against a small vessel in the Eastern Pacific on Monday, February 9. It reported that the killing was carried out according to orders issued by US Southern Command chief General Francis L. Donovan. The announcement marks a new downgrade in the chain of command identified for this US operation, which initially pointed to US President Donald Trump, then to US War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and now to General Donovan.
The operation, conducted by the Southern Spear Joint Task Force, resulted in the murder of two unidentified civilians. A third occupant survived the initial strike, though analysts have noted the recurrent fact that those who survive US attacks on small boats in the region often end up perishing or being killed during alleged rescue operations. This was recently observed following the January 23 strike, where the sole survivor later was pronounced missing.
On Feb. 9, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking… pic.twitter.com/fa5vppjcCy
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) February 10, 2026
This incident marks the 37th extrajudicial execution in the region since September 2 of last year. To date, according to Orinoco Tribune’s statistics, 125 civilians have been assassinated by US forces: 48 in the Caribbean Sea and 77 in the Eastern Pacific.
Analysts explain that despite the US regime’s use of the narco-terrorism narrative to justify its aggression against Venezuela, 61.6% of the killings have occurred in the Pacific Ocean, where Venezuela has no coastline. The remaining 48 victims in the Caribbean include nationals from Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic, further undermining Washington’s attempts to pin the blame for international narcotic trafficking networks on Venezuela. The international community continues to watch with alarm as Washington acts as judge and executioner on the high seas under the pretense of “confirmed intelligence.”
US piracy in the Indian Ocean
In a separate but connected act of international piracy, US imperialist forces conducted a maritime interdiction and boarding of the oil tanker Aquila II in the Indian Ocean on Feb. 9. The boarding followed an aggressive month-long pursuit, spanning approximately 10,000 miles, that began in the Caribbean.
The seizure took place after the tanker avoided the illegal US naval blockade against Venezuela following the January 3 military attacks. Those attacks resulted in the killing of more than 120 people and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Deputy Cilia Flores.
A video released by the US War Department showed US soldiers fast-roping onto the vessel from a helicopter launched from the mobile base ship USS Miguel Keith, with the destroyers USS Pinckney and USS John Finn nearby.
According to mainstream media reports, the Aquila II departed the Jose terminal in Anzoátegui, Venezuela, on December 2025 as part of a fleet of approximately 16 tankers that successfully broke the US war actions. At the time of its departure, it was carrying between 700,000 and one million barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude oil bound for China. It was intercepted while heading toward the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra.
This interdiction marks the eighth tanker seizure by US forces and the second since the January 3 US attacks. Analysts claim that this operation provides further evidence that the US does not control all Venezuelan oil exports, contrary to reports from the White House and mainstream media.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/SL
