Stories to read:
‘Patently Illegal’: Experts Raise Major Red Flags About Trump’s Drug Boat Bombings: “As history shows, no nation can kill their way out of the drug problem,” argued one critic. Brad Reed, Common Dreams, Sep 24, 2025
Trump Anoints Himself Judge, Jury And Executioner Of Alleged Drug Smugglers: While the president jokes about the killings, legal experts worry he could use the same logic to target others, even those in the U.S. S.V. Date, HuffPost, Sep 25, 2025
Read this too:
"A confidential memo obtained by The Intercept that was sent to multiple congressional committees this week asserted that the president had sweeping discretion to order the executions of alleged drug smugglers because he had declared a state of “non-international armed conflict” against boats that are part of “designated terrorist organizations.”
But if the U.S. is at war, that’s for Congress to decide—not Trump—and the administration has offered no actual evidence to back up its claims that the vessels were linked to any drug cartel at all."
— The Chilling New Detail About Trump’s “Drug Boat” Attacks: Report: Donald Trump has apparently claimed the right to unilaterally declare war. Edith Olmsted, The New Republic, October 3, 2025
Trump’s phony war on Venezuela — and his larger war on reality: Why is Trump attacking Venezuela? All the usual reasons: Wounded pride, limitless greed and conspiracy theories. Andrew O'Hehir. Salon, October 5, 2025
Exclusive: Classified Justice Department opinion authorizes strikes on secret list of cartels, sources say Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, CNN, Oct 7, 2025
Fact check: Trump’s absurd claim that he saved 100,000 lives by attacking alleged Venezuelan drug boats, Daniel Dale, CNN, Oct 8, 2025
"The US military conducted yet another strike on a boat alleged to be trafficking drugs off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people on board...This is at least the fifth time the US has announced such a strike." Six killed after US strikes another boat off coast of Venezuela, CNN, Oct 14, 2025
Not all of those five strikes were against Venezuela. One was against Colombia.
"The third publicly acknowledged strike on September 19 targeted a boat leaving Colombia..." (At least one US military strike on alleged drug trafficking boat in Caribbean targeted Colombians, CNN, Oct 15, 2025)
And:
"Venezuela escalation: President Trump said he was considering expanding his military operations in the Caribbean to include ground strikes in Venezuela, which would be a significant escalation of the campaign that has so far targeted vessels at sea. The Trump administration has said, without evidence, that those strikes had hit boats transporting drugs for cartels. “We are certainly looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” he said." NY Times, October 15, 2025
More info on Common Dreams and in the Washington Post
Trump said on Oct 15 that "he authorized the CIA to operate inside Venezuela to clamp down on illegal flows of migrants and drugs from the South American nation, but stopped short of saying they would have authority to remove President Nicolas Maduro." (CNN)
Some survivors after US strikes another suspected drug boat in the Caribbean, sources say, Natasha Bertrand, Kylie Atwood, CNN, October 16, 2025
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