All the U.S. military strikes against alleged drug boats
By: Joshua Barajas (PBS News)
Trump is firing million dollar missiles at low value targets. But Trump says the government cannot afford to mint pennies? One of these damned missile strikes could pay for 20 years of producing pennies.
Is this some sort of New York economics? Save pennies to spend millions? What kind of American would do something like that?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The U.S. military has killed dozens of people in targeted strikes on small vessels in waters off South America since early September.
President Donald Trump says the deadly attacks are combating drug smuggling. But the unilateral strikes have prompted questions from lawmakers, including Republicans, about his legal authority to use lethal force and what supporting evidence the Pentagon has that the people on these boats are connected to drug trafficking or narcoterrorism.
To date, the Trump administration has acknowledged at least 14 strikes against boats suspected of transporting narcotics, killing more than 60 people.
The U.S. began to build up its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, especially off Venezuela, this summer, saying it was needed to counter the drug trade.
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have cited intelligence that they claim proves the boats were involved in narcoterrorism or transporting narcotics to the U.S. They've at times said that the people on board were affiliated with specific criminal organizations. They have not publicly offered evidence to support their claims. Republican lawmakers received a military briefing on the operation this week, but Democrats were excluded.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was indicted on federal narcoterrorism charges during Trump's first term, has accused Trump of seeking a regime change and batted down Trump's claims that he plays a major role in trafficking drugs to the U.S. Maduro, an authoritarian leader who is not recognized by the U.S. and other countries as the legitimate president of Venezuela, also vowed a "republic in arms" if U.S. forces directly engage.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has called the strikes "an act of tyranny," asking in late September why the Trump administration would "launch a missile if you could simply stop the boat and arrest the crew?"
"That's what one would call murder," Petro added.
Here's a look at each strike carried out so far by the U.S. military.
Sept. 2
Watch the clip in the player above.
How many boats attacked? 1
Location or origin: Vessel departed from Venezuela
How many killed: 11
What did the U.S. say? Trump justified the U.S. military's first attack by calling the vessel a "drug-carrying boat" operated by Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang turned multinational crime group that has been designated by the administration as a foreign terrorist organization. The president said "a lot of drugs" were on board.
Why is it significant? The goal of the strike, U.S. Trump and his Cabinet officials said, is to combat drugs flowing into the U.S. Experts told PBS News that fighting the drug trade would typically be the purview of law enforcement, not the military.
Maduro called the first strike a "heinous crime." The Venezuelan leader also said if the U.S. believed the boat's passengers to be traffickers, they should have taken them into custody.
Sept. 15
How many boats attacked? 1
Location or origin: From Venezuela
How many killed: 3
What did the U.S. say? Trump posted a video of a boat engulfed by black smoke on social media. He said he had ordered a strike on the boat, which was "transporting illegal narcotics." Trump later told reporters "we have proof" that the boat was carrying drugs, though he didn't provide specifics.
Why is it significant? With the first strike no longer an isolated incident, the second attack raised more questions about the Trump administration's legal justifications for the killings.
Vice President JD Vance posted on X that "Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military." Republican Sen. Rand Paul criticized Vance's comment as "a despicable and thoughtless sentiment" for glorifying "killing someone without a trial."
The strike killed a Colombian man named Alejandro Carranza. Both his family and Petro said Carranza was a fisherman who did not have ties to drug trafficking.
"The United States has invaded our national territory, fired a missile to kill a humble fisherman, and destroyed his family, his children," Petro wrote on social media, according to the AP, adding that he requested that his nation's justice system initiate international legal proceedings.
Sept. 19
How many boats attacked? 1
Location or origin: In the Caribbean Sea
How many killed: 3
What did the U.S. say? Trump announced a third strike, saying the target was "trafficking illicit narcotics." His social media post said that "intelligence confirmed" the targeted vessel was affiliated with a "Designated Terrorist Organization," though he didn't provide evidence of whether or how the boat was linked to drug cartels. Hegseth posted a video that purported to show the strike.
Oct. 3
How many boats attacked? 1
Location or origin: In waters off Venezuela
How many killed: 4
What did the U.S. say? Hegseth announced that the U.S. had carried out a fourth boat strike. Without providing more specifics, Hegseth said U.S. intelligence "without a doubt" confirmed the boat was trafficking narcotics and the people onboard were "narco-terrorists."
Why is it significant? A day before this strike, the Associated Press obtained a Trump memo to Congress that declared the U.S. was now in a "non-international armed conflict" with drug cartels and that suspects involved in these operations were considered "unlawful combatants."
Days after the strike, Petro said the boat was from Colombia and had Colombian citizens aboard. The White House denied this allegation, calling Petro's claim "baseless."
Oct. 14
How many boats attacked? 1
Location or origin: Off the Venezuelan coast
How many killed: 6
What did the U.S. say? Trump announced the fifth strike against a boat he said was affiliated with a "Designated Terrorist Organization," but didn't specify which group, nor the nationality of the people aboard.
Why is it significant? Later in the week, Trump confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and raised the prospect of striking the country on land, raising the temperature in the conflict.
Oct. 16
How many vessels attacked? 1
Location or origin: Caribbean Sea
How many killed: 2, plus 2 survivors
What did the U.S. say? A semisubmersible craft suspected of trafficking narcotics became the sixth vessel attacked. Trump said on Truth Social that two people were killed, and the two people who survived "are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution."
Why is it significant? For the first time in this series of U.S. strikes, there were known survivors. The U.S. decided to have them repatriated instead of putting them in military detention. Colombian officials said they would open an investigation into the activities of their survivor's activities, who suffered injuries. However, the Colombian justice system has limited ability to prosecute him, an official told El Pais, because there is no evidence of a crime. Ecuador released its survivor, saying there was "no report of a crime."
On the same day as the strike, U.S. Adm. Alvin Holsey announced his surprise retirement as lead of the U.S. Southern Command.
Oct. 17
How many boats attacked? 1
Location or origin: The defense secretary said the boat was in the U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility, which includes the Caribbean Sea.
How many killed: 3
What did the U.S. say? Hegeth said the U.S. attacked a vessel that was suspected of "transporting substantial amounts of narcotics." This time, the Trump administration said its target was affiliated with the National Liberation Army (Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional), a Colombian rebel group that was designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
Why is it significant? In a social media post hours before Hegseth announced the strike, Trump escalated his criticism of Colombia's Petro, saying he did nothing to stop drug production and calling him an "illegal drug leader."
After the strike was announced, Petro urged Latin America and the Caribbean to unite and reject any outside aggression. "Venezuela belongs to the Venezuelans. This is not a defense of Maduro; it is the defense of Latin American sovereignty," he wrote in a post on X.
Oct. 21
How many boats attacked? 1
Location or origin: eastern Pacific Ocean
How many killed: 2
What did the U.S. say? In announcing this strike against a suspected drug-carrying boat, Hegseth referred to the two people killed as "narco-terrorists" and made a comparison to the 9/11 attacks. "Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness—only justice," he said.
Why is it significant? The strike marked the first time the U.S. military campaign extended beyond the Caribbean. The U.S. executed the strike despite a warning from the UN Humans Rights Council a day before.
Oct. 22
How many boats attacked? 1
Location or origin: eastern Pacific Ocean
How many killed: 3
What did the U.S. say? Hegseth announced a ninth strike, again in the Pacific Ocean. At the end of a 26-second video he posted on social media, white packages are seen floating in the water. Hegseth said that the strikes "will continue, day after day."
Oct. 24
How many boats attacked? 1
Location or origin: Caribbean Sea
How many killed: 6
What did the U.S. say? Hegseth announced an overnight attack, saying the targeted boat was operated by Tren de Aragua. Citing intelligence, but not providing more details, he said the vessel was "involved in illicit narcotics smuggling."
Why is it significant? Hegseth noted the strike was the first one to happen at night.
In a televised address to his nation, Maduro accused Trump of "fabricating a new eternal war," the Associated Press reported, as the USS Gerald R. Ford, a large American aircraft carrier and one of the world's biggest, moved closer to Venezuela.
Oct. 27
How many boats attacked? 4
Location or origin: eastern Pacific Ocean
How many killed: 14, plus 1 survivor
What did the U.S. say? The U.S. military carried out three strikes against four vessels suspected of transporting drugs. Hegseth posted a 28-second video that in part shows two vessels, side by side, exploding in the water. He also said Mexican authorities assumed responsibility for coordinating the search and rescue of the sole survivor.
Why is it significant? The multiple strikes on Oct. 27 marked one of the biggest escalations and heaviest single strike death tolls to date. It was also the first time Mexico had been drawn into the U.S. military campaign.
Oct. 29
How many boats attacked? 1
Location or origin: eastern Pacific Ocean
How many killed: 4
What did the U.S. say? Yet again citing "intelligence," Hegseth said the vessel was "involved in illicit narcotics smuggling" and traveling along a "known narco-trafficking route."
"The Western Hemisphere is no longer a safe haven for narco-terrorists bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans," he added in his social media post.
Trump's TEA Party priorities are to make Americans as miserable as possible. Trump isn't doing one damned thing to make life better for ordinary people on Main Street.
TEA Party priorities have always been about exploiting America, not making America great. Ordinary people are supposed to be too stupid to see that Trump is saving pennies to hide spending millions, billions, trillions. What kind of American does something like that?
I don’t support the way we’re doing this - for a number of reasons - but I do find it interesting that we aren’t seeing protests that America is murdering good families on vacation or innocent men out there trying to fish. Like maybe we really are killing drug runners?
I don't agree with the methods because they are blatantly not legal.
I did find this story though: https://www.courthousenews.com/us-military-strike-off-the-coast-of-venezuela-disrupts-life-in-impoverished-fishing-communities/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
My point is that Trump is deploying million dollar strikes against $10k targets. Trump is being penny wise and $ million foolish. How can the US defend such a asymmetrical expenditure when the US cannot afford to mint pennies?
Trump deliberately attacked the people of the United States by stopping the production of pennies. And Trump is using that 'savings' as justification for enormous military expenditures that have accomplished very little. Trump has spent roughly $150 million to sink about $200,000 worth of drug boats.
That's idiot economics.
Quick question Nerm, the 200,000 you cited covers the boats, at 30,000 a kilo how much do you think each boat was carrying? 50 million a boat does change the calculus a bit doesn’t it?
You could also probably pay for a lot of health care premiums or feed a lot of hungry Americans for whatever we spend on blowing up random boats.
What would it cost to stop them, board the boats, investigate and then arrest if appropriate?
Seems to me that would not only be far less expensive, it would help avoid blowing up boats and killing people based on bad information.
What's an American's life worth?
$6,400 and change. That's the average subsidy for Obamacare insurance.
The price on the boat is more like $4k per kilo, tops. If smugglers were dumping $50 million cargoes, they wouldn't survive.
Or use it to cover burial costs due to drug overdoses, drug rehab centers caused by those drugs reaching shore.
According to planned parenthood.
They aren't, so you list 4k a kilo, that is still 7 times the value of the strike.
Those aren't American. They're not even human. They're spawn of the devil.
Hey, that TEA Party accounting is pretty good. Let's only pay for the military when it attacks something. Just think of all the money we could save. We'll just wave a magic wand and, poof, the military capability magically appears to make a cheap assed strike.
Too bad the real world doesn't work that way.
But what evidence is there that those boats are actually carrying drugs?
I'm going to venture a guess that it's all within the intel collected and analyzed prior to the operation commencing.
From a observer's perspective, I don't see any fishing gear in any of those boats.
Basically any expenditure of money is going to be more efficient than what we spend on weapons.
I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Trump has been claiming he’s doing this to stop fentanyl. Zero fentanyl comes from Venezuela.
Possibly our military personals lives, do you know how many weapons are on those boats?
These boats are called "go fast" boats for a reason, from the photos there are 3 to 4 boat motors on each one meaning they are running 1000 to 1500 or more HP as the means to outrun our ships and the way they burn there are large amounts of fuel on them.
There doesn't seem to be much outrage from Venezuela about the dead fishermen and thrill seekers.
“Possibly our military personals lives, do you know how many weapons are on those boats?”
I agree. Stopping one of those boats wouldn’t be like pulling a car over for speeding. it’s completely naive to think we could simply stop them and arrest them.
The problem (which should be obvious) is that we have a PotUS who is blowing boats up (and killing people) based on suspicion . The administration has yet to release how they KNOW that they are killing armed drug traffickers (or terrorists). Even after the fact, they just claim that they were right.
This is yet another area where naive Trump supporters just take Trump's word for it.
I do not believe a word that comes from Trump's mouth. Until we see evidence that these kills were both legal and legitimate (proof that the suspicions were indeed correct) I will assume that this is Trump, yet again, being Trump and doing whatever he pleases with little fear of consequences.
I'd rather spend the money on munitions / weapons than have any of that reach the US and harm a citizen.
but he wants to blow up the boats... That is the whole purpose. And ever since God died and left him the keys to the gun locker, he has been wanting to shoot something.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just stop the boat? No need to blow anything up.
And oh yeah, there’s the whole murder aspect of it.
I agree. Everything is a show to Trump and Trump is a psychopath so human life means nothing to him.
He wants the show. He wants to blow up boats and pretend he is a super hero. Ensuring he is actually killing drug smugglers / terrorists / etc. as any rational PotUS would do is not even a concern to him.
And unnecessarily put our people at risk? No. I'm fine sending the occupants to Bikini Bottom.
Good point. /s
We should probably let cops just shoot drivers on our highways rather than pull them over and write tickets. They should just shoot suspects rather than clog our jails and courts. That way, the cops don’t have to be put at risk.
Or have you figured out now that risk is part of the job?
You know, the Coast Guard stops boats every day that they suspect of being involved in crime. Most of them turn out not to be criminals. But I guess you would just have our forces murder those people and not worry about investigations.
I'll take idiotic comparisons for $100, Alex.
There is another option for this. Track the drug boats and once they cross into US waters (~ 12 NM). That puts them within US maritime jurisdiction. Once they cross that line, target practice starts.
And to pacify those crying about the cost, this would also be cheaper. But then again, current operations are cheaper than the loss of a life of somebody taking the drugs or the enforcement agent boarding the boat of a drug trafficker.
Once they enter the US territory, they are entitled to protections under the constitution [removed] [✘] them in international waters.
Exactly. Far better than housing them, feeding them, healthcare and tying up judicial processes for years. More importantly it protects US Citizens.
What makes people so sure that those boats are carrying drugs?
I don't see fishing gear or anything showing that they are taking a leisurely boat ride.
Good to know that's apparently the new shoot to kill standard. No fishing gear or anything indicating you're taking a "leisurely boat ride" then you've been tried and convicted of being suspicious which carries the death penalty according to Donald Trump. Which is of course another 'hilarious' hypocrisy.
That's not the sort of boat you would use to go fishing.
If the presence of fighing gear would mean that you weren't a drug smuggler-- then drug smugglers would also bring along fishing gear!
(DUH!)
Where did I say it was the standard?
Now you are catching on.
Good thought. /s
Now the drug runners will be sure to just hang a fishing pole out the side of the boat. That’s all you need, huh?
So a boat is either for fishing or drug smuggling? Those are the only two options?
And exactly where did I say that? Try paying attention. Start at 2.2.13
You try paying attention. To the things you say. If you don’t like the way others interpret what you say, try saying them differently. Clarify your point of view. Communication of your thoughts is your responsibility, not mine.
And I’m not going to engage in some bullshit back and forth with you about what your words really mean. We already know you don’t like what I think of what you said. So say it differently, or live with the result.
I do. You are the one that isn't doing the research right here on this article about anything I said. But, I get it. You actually see what I said it eliminates your chances to play games.
When you do that come back and we'll talk.