“The Caribbean Is Heating Up”: Inside Trump’s Shadow War With Venezuela

The sun had not yet risen over the Caribbean on October 3 when a United States Navy vessel struck a suspected Venezuelan drug-running boat. The engagement lasted only minutes; by dawn, at least four people were dead, and the wreckage was slipping beneath the waves.

It was the fourth such strike in less than a month and — despite a claim by Colombia’s president that the boat was Colombian, not Venezuelan — for many in Washington, the clearest sign yet that America’s standoff with Venezuela is edging toward open confrontation.

Here is what is going on.