The US military‘s recent strike on a Venezuelan boat suspected of drug smuggling has raised concerns about extrajudicial killings and the potential escalation of military actions in Latin America.
President Donald Trump announced the strike, which resulted in the deaths of 11 people, stating that the vessel was transporting “illegal narcotics” and was headed to the US.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the strike was a message to drug smugglers, adding that “it’ll happen again. Maybe it’s happening right now.”
Rubio’s comments were echoed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who stated that anyone else trafficking in those waters who is a designated “narco-terrorist” will face the same fate. “What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them,” Rubio said.
Analysts warn that this new strategy represents a major escalation in how the US approaches Latin American criminal organizations, relying on public signaling and dubious legal practices that undergirded US attacks across the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia as part of the “Global War on Terror”.
Brian Finucane, a senior adviser for the US program at the International Crisis Group, described the US strike as “performative and gratuitous use of military power”.
He added that “for decades, the US Navy and Coast Guard worked together on interdicting vessels, stopping them at sea, taking the purported smugglers into custody and prosecuting them through law enforcement channels.”
The Trump administration has not yet elucidated its justification for the strike under domestic US law, raising questions about the legal authority behind the action.
Finucane noted that being a drug smuggler does not render someone a combatant or enemy fighter, and the intentional targeting of civilians is a war crime.
The strike has sparked praise from Republicans, with Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch praising Trump’s “decisive action towards these criminals”.
Senator Tom Cotton also echoed Trump’s language, hailing the strike against “terrorists”.
However, Democrats have been relatively muted in their response, with the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee calling for the administration to brief Congress immediately and spell out its legal justification for the strike.
Experts warn that this approach carries several risks, including dangers for civilians such as fishermen and migrants who travel in international waters, and raises the specter of strikes on sovereign territory or regional escalation.
Adam Isacson, the director of defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, said the Trump administration appears to be “trying to normalize something that is illegal”.