Foreign Minister Yvan Gil met with Lan in Caracas and described the message from Beijing as a significant gesture at a time when the United States had deployed warships and launched two deadly operations in less than a month.

Gil stressed that President Nicolas Maduro was committed to regional unity and to what he called an “authentic battle” against narcotics trafficking, but accused Washington of using military power for political ends.

Three people on board were killed – and video footage, according to Trump, showed “big bags of cocaine and fentanyl” floating in the sea.

That strike followed an operation earlier this month that killed 11 people on a speedboat the US linked to Venezuelan cartels. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed the US would “track them, kill them, and dismantle their networks throughout our hemisphere”, adding that he did not rule out extending operations to land.

The administration argued the strikes were necessary to defend US security, pointing to gangs such as Tren de Aragua, which it has designated a terrorist organisation. Trump noted that fewer boats had been spotted since the first strike but warned that cartels continued to smuggle drugs by land.

“We’re telling the cartels right now we’re going to be stopping them, too,” he declared.

The operations quickly attracted criticism in Washington, where some lawmakers and rights advocates questioned their legality.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff announced he was drafting a war powers resolution to block further military action without congressional approval, calling the strikes “lawless killings” that risked entangling the US in conflict with Venezuela.

Amnesty International warned that the attacks might amount to extrajudicial executions, while other rights groups faulted the administration for providing scant information about the legal grounds for the operations.

“They were looking for a military incident that the warmongers who want a war in the Caribbean are seeking,” he alleged.