US to return survivors of boat strike to home countries

Skylar Woodhouse, Bloomberg News on Oct 18, 2025

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President Donald Trump said the two survivors of a U.S. attack on a submarine he claimed was carrying illegal drugs in the Caribbean will be returned to their home countries.

“It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route,” Trump said in a post. “The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution.”

Questions linger about the legality of the deadly strikes. The incident follows the retirement announcement of Admiral Alvin Holsey, the head of U.S. Southern Command, less than one year into his term.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said his country would welcome the return of the captured man. “We are glad he is alive and will be prosecuted according to the law,” Petro wrote in a post on X.

Trump has acknowledged that the strikes are part of a growing campaign to unseat Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. He has authorized CIA covert activity in the country and has said he was considering military action on the ground there. Maduro has repositioned troops and mobilized militias.

Trump has accused Venezuela of sending both drugs and criminals to the U.S. Maduro, whom U.S. officials accuse of heading a narco state, condemned the move as “desperate” and “immoral” and said Trump is pursuing an interventionist policy in the region.