Since August 2025, U.S. naval forces have carried out missile strikes on small boats off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia — attacks the Trump administration claims target narcotics traffickers but which critics call a new front in political warfare.
Yet the scale, targets, and rhetoric surrounding these operations suggest broader political aims, namely, the pressure campaign against the Venezuelan government and the extension of executive military powers into ambiguous legal territory.
The vessels destroyed have ranged from go-fast boats to small fishing vessels.
Many were operating in areas where subsistence fishing and informal trade coexist with illicit economies, particularly in La Guajira, Venezuela. The U.S. Navy has not presented publicly verifiable evidence about the identities of those killed or the content of the vessels. The death toll amounts to at least 57 people, according to the BBC.
President Trump showcased the logic of the campaign in public statements: “We’re going to kill them,” he said in reference to suspected traffickers. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has argued that the cartels are comparable to al-Qaeda and should be treated as enemy combatants. The administration has designated its targets as “narco-terrorists,” and Congress has been notified that the U.S. considers itself engaged in a non-international armed conflict with drug cartels.
These legal maneuvers permit the use of lethal force against individuals who would otherwise be protected by civilian status.
Under international law, targeting non-state actors with military force requires a threshold of organized armed conflict and strict criteria for combatant status. Legal scholars and human rights groups argue that these strikes do not meet those standards and instead constitute extrajudicial killings. So far, the administration has not presented publicly verifiable evidence that the targeted vessels carried drugs, and has failed to identify the model of the vessels in detail or the …
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Author: Rolando García / High Times
