Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Donald Trump has long been a fan of using the U.S. military to wage a more vigorous war against drug cartels in Latin America. He also shows signs of using that justification as a pretext to oust regimes considered hostile to other U.S. interests. The most recent incident in the administration’s escalating antidrug campaign took place on October 3 when ‘Secretary of War’ Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. naval forces had sunk yet another small boat off of the coast of Venezuela. It was one of four destroyed vessels and a total of 21 people killed since late September. The administration claims they were all trying to ship illegal drugs to the United States.” (10/10/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/cartels-vessels-caribbean/