On November 7, 2025, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took to social media, releasing a dramatic video that captured the destruction of a boat in the Caribbean. The incident, which resulted in the deaths of three individuals, was just the latest episode in a rapidly escalating campaign by the Trump administration against alleged drug traffickers operating in international waters near Latin America. Hegseth, echoing the administration’s hardline stance, declared, “To all narco-terrorists who threaten our homeland: if you want to stay alive, stop trafficking drugs. If you keep trafficking deadly drugs — we will kill you.” According to The Guardian and MSNBC, the operation was conducted under the direct orders of President Donald Trump, part of an ongoing effort to combat what the administration has labeled as narco-terrorist threats.
This most recent strike brings the death toll from the U.S. campaign to at least 70 since the first attacks began in early September, according to reports from MSNBC and The Guardian. Over the past two months, U.S. forces have destroyed at least 18 vessels—17 boats and a semi-submersible—in the Caribbean and Pacific. The Pentagon has yet to publicly disclose the names of the 69 people it claims to have killed, and the identities of up to 50 victims remain unknown. Families in countries like Venezuela, Colombia, and Trinidad and Tobago are left in the dark, fearful of retaliation from traffickers, their own governments, or even the United States, as local journalists have told MSNBC.
The Trump administration’s campaign is notable for its scale and intensity. As reported by The Guardian, the U.S. has deployed six Navy ships to the Caribbean, stationed F-35 stealth warplanes in Puerto Rico, and ordered the USS Gerald R Ford carrier strike group into the region. These moves have been presented as a show of force aimed at stamping out drug trafficking and, according to some officials, destabilizing the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. In fact, at the end of August, a significant U.S. naval force was sent to waters off Venezuela, with Hegseth openly stating the military was prepared for operations, including regime change if necessary.
Yet the campaign has sparked heated debate both within the United States and abroad. Internationally, the strikes have been criticized as possible extrajudicial executions. Venezuelan officials have condemned the attacks, denying the presence of drug cartels in their country and refusing to confirm the deaths of any Venezuelans in the boat strikes. Human rights activists and journalists in the region, such as Ronna Rísquez, have described a climate of fear: “They are afraid,” Rísquez told MSNBC, explaining that families are reluctant to speak out for fear of reprisals.
Among those publicly identified as killed in the strikes are two Colombians, two citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, nine Venezuelans, and one Ecuadorian. The stories behind these numbers are often complex. For example, Lizbeth Perez, niece of Colombian fisherman Alejandro Carranza, told MSNBC that her family has received no information or assistance from either the Colombian or American governments. “We haven’t received any help,” she said. Similarly, Lenore Burnley, mother of Trinidadian day laborer Chad Joseph, expressed her anguish: “They’re not supposed to kill human beings like that. I don’t know what to do.” Her son was returning home after working in Venezuela when he was killed in a U.S. strike.
The Trump administration maintains that all individuals targeted were narco-terrorists based on U.S. intelligence. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told MSNBC, “Since the Department of War began striking these vessels, we have consistently said that our intelligence did indeed confirm that the individuals involved in these drug operations were narco-terrorists, and we stand by that assessment.” However, no concrete evidence has been made public to support these claims, and a section of the most recent strike video was intentionally obfuscated without explanation, as noted by The Guardian.
Critics, including members of Congress from both parties, have demanded more transparency. In a rare show of bipartisanship, Representatives Don Bacon, Mike Turner, Seth Moulton, and Jason Crow sent a letter to the Trump administration seeking evidence that those killed were indeed narcotics traffickers. They wrote, “Cartels often force low-income individuals into maritime smuggling through threats or deception. What evidence confirms that those killed were cartel operatives, rather than coerced, deceived, or trafficked civilians?”
Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, has emerged as a vocal opponent of the strikes. He pointed out that a quarter of boats stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard on suspicion of drug trafficking near the U.S. are found to have no narcotics. “The Coast Guard doesn’t blow up boats off Miami because 25 percent of the time their suspicion is wrong,” Paul said. “To kill indiscriminately is akin to summary execution.” Despite these concerns, the Senate voted down a war powers resolution that would have forced President Trump to seek congressional approval for strikes in Venezuela, effectively leaving the administration’s military campaign unchecked.
On the ground—or rather, at sea—the reality is often murkier than official statements suggest. Local journalists and human rights groups have found that many of those killed were not high-level cartel figures but rather low-level smugglers, fishermen, or day laborers. “They handle some logistical operations like drug handling, but they are not the drug owners,” Rísquez explained. “They are not the ones controlling the operation. Killing them won’t end drug trafficking.” A congressional official with knowledge of past U.S. interdiction efforts echoed this, telling MSNBC, “These are not drug kingpins. These are not decision-makers.”
The strategic effectiveness of the strikes is also under question. A former senior U.S. national security official told MSNBC that even if the administration achieves its goals—limiting sea-based narcotics trafficking and toppling Maduro—other traffickers will simply fill the void, potentially shifting smuggling routes to land. “I don’t think it’s going to cause the JNCG or Sinaloa cartel to say, ‘Wait, this is too dangerous.’ These guys feed their rivals to tigers. They are not easily intimidated,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the families of those killed are left with little recourse, caught between powerful governments, violent cartels, and the opaque machinery of international law. In Trinidad and Tobago, human rights activist Denise Pitcher described the sense of helplessness: “In a small country like Trinidad and Tobago, it’s easy to be targeted. People are scared here.” The government of Trinidad and Tobago, facing immense pressure from both Venezuela and the United States, has largely supported the U.S. strikes, with Pitcher observing, “I think the prime minister thought it was prudent to align herself with the most powerful country in the world. If hostilities did begin, at least we would be protected.”
As the Trump administration continues its campaign, the debate over legality, morality, and effectiveness only grows more intense. For now, the U.S. military shows no signs of letting up, and the waters of the Caribbean remain a theater of both shadowy conflict and profound human cost.
