For nearly three months, the waters of the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific have become a theater of deadly drama, as U.S. military forces, under the direction of President Donald Trump, have launched a series of strikes against vessels they claim are ferrying drugs to American shores. Since early September 2025, at least 21 such attacks have been reported, resulting in the deaths of at least 83 people, according to a tally by the Associated Press and corroborated by Pentagon statements. The campaign, which the Trump administration frames as a bold stand against “narco-terrorists,” has drawn both fierce support and mounting criticism, with questions swirling about its legality, effectiveness, and the true identity of its victims.
The U.S. government has described the targets of these strikes as “unlawful combatants”—a term more commonly associated with al-Qaida or ISIS fighters than with civilian mariners. President Trump has repeatedly asserted that these operations are saving lives, at one point claiming that every sunken boat prevents “25,000 deaths” from drug overdoses. Yet, as The Baltimore Sun and the Associated Press have reported, many of those killed were not hardened cartel operatives but ordinary Venezuelans, including fishermen and laborers, lured by the promise of a modest payday—sometimes as little as $500—to crew the doomed boats.
“There is ample evidence to believe these are extrajudicial killings,” Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has charged, echoing concerns raised by legal experts and human rights advocates. The question of legality has only grown more pressing as the campaign has intensified. The United Kingdom, one of America’s closest intelligence allies, recently suspended its intelligence-sharing with Washington on suspected drug smuggling vessels. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has reportedly concluded that the U.S. strikes violate international law.
Despite such concerns, the Trump administration has doubled down. On November 25, the U.S. officially designated the Venezuelan group known as the Cartel de los Soles—or Cartel of the Suns—as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). This move, which provides a legal rationale for escalated action against Venezuelan authorities, was announced just a day before U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth landed in the Dominican Republic for high-level talks with President Luis Abinader and his cabinet.
“We continue working with the United States because this is a tough fight, especially in some countries, mainly in South America, that have seen an increase in drug production, particularly cocaine,” President Abinader said on Tuesday, as reported by AFP. The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has been an active partner in the U.S. campaign. Earlier this month, Dominican authorities, working alongside U.S. forces, seized about 500 kilograms of cocaine from a boat intercepted in a joint operation.
Hegseth’s visit, according to the Pentagon, was intended “to strengthen defense relationships and reaffirm America’s commitment to defend the homeland, protect our regional partners and ensure stability and security across the Americas.” The trip came as the U.S. Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, and an array of supporting warships were stationed off the Venezuelan coast—a deployment that has not gone unnoticed in Caracas.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, already under tremendous pressure from Washington, responded with defiance. On Tuesday, he addressed a crowd of supporters in Caracas, holding aloft the historical “Sword of Peru” associated with independence hero Simón Bolívar. “There is no excuse for anyone, whether civilian, politician, military or police officer. Failure is not an option! The nation demands our greatest effort and sacrifice,” Maduro declared, according to AFP. The rally, organized to protest the U.S. terrorism designation, drew thousands and underscored the combustible mood in the Venezuelan capital.
Some in the region have voiced full-throated support for the U.S. approach. Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, after meeting with General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said she had “no sympathy for drug traffickers” and that “the U.S. military should kill them all violently.” Her remarks, reported by Newsday, sparked controversy; Amery Browne, Trinidad’s former foreign affairs minister, called Persad-Bissessar’s stance “reckless,” warning that it risked isolating Trinidad from the Caricom regional bloc.
Yet, such sentiments are far from universal. Most Caribbean leaders have responded to the U.S. strikes with caution, urging dialogue and peaceful solutions while expressing unease about the rising death toll and the risk of regional destabilization. General Caine’s meetings with regional leaders, including Persad-Bissessar, reportedly focused on “the destabilizing effects of illicit narcotics, arms, and human trafficking, and transnational criminal organization activities,” as summarized by the Pentagon. Still, the specter of military escalation looms large, with President Trump refusing to rule out direct action against Maduro, even as he hints at possible negotiations.
Behind the headlines and high-level diplomacy lies a more sobering reality: the effectiveness of the U.S. campaign remains in doubt. As The Baltimore Sun pointed out, Venezuela is not a major source of fentanyl, the synthetic opioid driving much of the overdose crisis in the United States. Most fentanyl is smuggled through Mexico, not across the Caribbean. Critics argue that traditional interdiction methods, led by the U.S. Coast Guard, have a better track record of disrupting drug flows than costly and legally dubious airstrikes. “The drug cartels are mostly out to make money. You want to stop them? You make arrests and seize their boats and, in the process, prove to skeptical Americans that this is not all a smokescreen. After all, dead smugglers tell no tales,” wrote Peter Jensen for The Baltimore Sun.
As the U.S. military presence in the region grows—described by Pentagon officials as the largest in generations—so too does the sense of uncertainty about what comes next. Defense Secretary Hegseth and General Caine have both made recent visits to U.S. troops stationed in Puerto Rico and aboard Navy ships, expressing gratitude for their service during the Thanksgiving holiday. Yet, for many in the Caribbean and beyond, the question remains: Are these actions truly making the region safer, or are they setting the stage for a wider conflict?
With the world watching, and with so many lives already lost, the stakes could hardly be higher. The coming weeks will reveal whether the U.S. strategy leads to lasting security—or simply deeper divisions in a region already on edge.
