Since September, U.S. forces have destroyed at least 15 vessels originating in either Venezuela or Colombia that were believed to be engaged in international drug trafficking, killing 61 individuals.
“What’s illegal are the drugs that were on the boat, and the drugs that are being sent into our country,” President Donald J. Trump said on Sept. 14, answering questions about the legality of a U.S. airstrike that destroyed a speedboat believed to be trafficking drugs from Venezuela.
The administration has not yet released evidence proving its allegations but releasing such intelligence now would almost certainly compromise sources and operations. Nevertheless, the Dominican Republic’s National Directorate for Drug Control, which cooperated with a U.S. strike on Sept. 19, has revealed that it salvaged over 1,000 kilograms of cocaine from the boat destroyed that day, with even more presumably lost at sea.
In addition, a submarine that was attacked on Oct. 16 yielded two survivors who were detained by the U.S. Navy. One of them, an Ecuadorian national, was previously convicted in a U.S. court and deported from the United States for—no surprise—drug smuggling. All surface vessels that were attacked appear to have been moving at high speeds while following courses along commonly identified drug trafficking routes; none appear to have been engaged in any other activity.
Amid a major military buildup in the Caribbean, which began in mid-August but has accelerated in recent weeks, some critics—and some admirers, including hopeful Venezuelan political dissidents—have argued that Trump seeks regime change in Venezuela. The administration has not officially called for the ouster of that country’s Marxist president Nicolás Maduro, but it has denounced him as “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world” and announced a $50 million bounty for information leading to his arrest. It has also authorized CIA operations within Venezuela and suggested it could open military operations on land. Venezuela has mobilized its army and civil militia.
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