The rate of US strikes on alleged narco-trafficking boats may be lower since the US kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3, but it hasn’t stopped. The U.S. military said Friday that it has carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the Caribbean Sea, reported AP. U.S. Southern Command said on social media that the boat “was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” It said the strike killed three people. A video linked to the post shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames.
AP notes that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared last week that “some top cartel drug-traffickers” in the region “have decided to cease all narcotics operations INDEFINITELY due to recent (highly effective) kinetic strikes in the Caribbean.” However, Hegseth made that claim without providing a shred of evidence to back up his claim, made in a post on his personal account on social media.
That makes for a great headline—except that the vast majority of drugs don’t enter the U.S. through the Caribbean, but through the 26 official Ports of Entry along the U.S.-Mexico border.
