U.S. Expands Anti-Drug Strikes, Killing 14 People On 4 Alleged Drug Boats In The Pacific
The U.S. military struck four more vessels in the eastern Pacific on Monday, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday on X.
The boats were accused of trafficking narcotics — marking the first time since the campaign began in September that multiple strikes were confirmed in a single day.
BY THE NUMBERS
So far, the 13 strikes have killed at least 57 people in the Caribbean and Pacific in recent weeks. Hegseth said Mexican authorities “assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue” of the lone survivor on Monday, but did not clarify whether that person would remain in Mexican or be handed over to U.S. custody. Two survivors from earlier military strikes were returned to their home countries, Colombia and Ecuador.
Bigger picture: President Trump has said land strikes against Venezuela could follow. The campaign is targeting “narco-terrorists” and comes as the U.S. continues to put pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to step down from power. He is accused of having deep ties to the drug trade and ignoring last year’s election results to remain in power.
Nearly one-quarter of all U.S. global naval assets are now being deployed to the Caribbean — the largest buildup since the 1980s.
WHAT’S THE AIM?
Trump appears to be using the show of force to pressure Maduro into stepping down from power or getting allies and top Venezuelan officials to push him out.
“The White House is clearly interested in signaling to disaffected elements of the regime that now is the time to rise up against Maduro,” Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela analyst with the Atlantic Council, told the Wall Street Journal. He notes, “The problem with this approach is that US-backed operations have failed to produce such cracks inside the Venezuelan government over the past twenty years.”
Lawmakers from both parties have questioned the legality of the strikes. After Al Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks on the U.S., Congress authorized the use of military force against the terrorist group. Congress has not approved such action against Latin American drug cartels. However, Trump administration officials have argued that designating a drug cartel as a terrorist organization gives them the authority to use military force against it.
Look out for things to escalate further as the USS Gerald R Ford, the U.S. Navy’s largest and newest aircraft carrier, and several thousand more sailors arrive in the region in the coming days.