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
"The US military carried out another strike on a boat operating in the Caribbean officials deemed to be a “narco-trafficking vessel” on Friday morning, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced in a social media post. The strike killed all four people who were on board, Hegseth said.
The attack marks at least the fourth known US military strike in the Caribbean since the beginning of September..." (CNN, Oct 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)
Another attack
Some survivors after US strikes another suspected drug boat in the Caribbean, sources say, Natasha Bertrand, Kylie Atwood, CNN, October 16, 2025
US has seized survivors after strike on suspected drug-carrying vessel in Caribbean, AP sources say, Konstantin Toropin and Lisa Mascaro, AP, October 17, 2025
U.S. Returning Caribbean Strike Survivors To Colombia And Ecuador, Trump Says: The U.S. military flew the survivors to a U.S. Navy warship in the Caribbean after they were rescued. Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali. Reuters, Oct 18, 2025
Abby Phillip Calls Scott Jennings A Liar As On-Air Fight Spills Onto Social Media: The two tangled over Trump's bombing attacks on vessels he alleged were carrying fentanyl to the U.S. Ron Dicker, Oct 20, 2025
History shows that Trump’s Venezuela campaign will be disastrous: Trump is just the latest president to meddle in Latin America — and the outcome will be no different, Heather Digby Parton, October 21, 2025
UN experts say US strikes against Venezuela in international waters amount to 'extrajudicial executions', Jasper Ward, Reuters, October 21, 2025
The U.S. Isn’t Even Bothering With Its Usual Lies to Sell Its Regime Change War in Venezuela, The days of justifying American military intervention anywhere in the world are on their way out. Séamus Malekafzali, The Intercept, Oct 22, 2025
Trump Insists He Doesn't Need Congressional Approval To Kill Alleged Drug Smugglers, Lydia O'Connor, HuffPost, Oct 23, 2025
Trump Balks At Declaring War For Venezuelan Drug Cartel Strikes: ‘We’re Just Going To Kill People’, Antonio Pequeño IV, Forbes, Oct 23, 2025
"Meanwhile, Hegseth says US has conducted 10th strike against alleged drug smuggling boat, killing 6" From CNN's Michael Williams, October 24, 2025
US Moving Huge Navy Firepower Close to Venezuela: Live Updates, Amanda Castro and Gabe Whisnant, Newsweek, Oct 24, 2025
U.S. Is Sending An Aircraft Carrier To Latin America In Major Escalation Of Military Firepower: The U.S. military has conducted its 10th strike on a suspected drug-running boat, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier Friday. Konstantin Toropin, AP, Oct 24, 2025
Trump’s Escalation Against Venezuela Continues as Hegseth Deploys Aircraft Carrier Strike Group to Latin American Waters: An aide to Brazil’s president warned that a US regime change operation in Venezuela “could inflame South America and lead to radicalization of politics on the whole continent.” Stephen Prager, Common Dreams, Oct 24, 2025
US sanctions Colombian president, CNN, Oct 24, 2025
Relations between Colombia and US ‘absolutely dire’, says expert, CNN, Video: 18:40
Video Trump insists he can strike alleged drug traffickers without Congress declaring war, CNN, Video: 6:56
Panetta: One US misstep could result in small war with Venezuela, CNN, Video: 4:36
Trump considering plans to target cocaine facilities inside Venezuela, CNN, Video: 1:27
Rand Paul: "In the one instance you're killed on sight. On the other instance, if you're captured, we just say, 'Oh well, we're gonna send you back to your country.' It doesn't make any sense."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 26, 2025 at 8:45 AM
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Venezuela's Maduro Says The US Is Fabricating A War, Seeks To Revoke Citizenship Of Opponent López: In a national broadcast on Friday night, Maduro accused the administration of President Donald Trump of “fabricating a new eternal war." AP, Oct 25, 2025
Read: "Trump administration says it’s given 7 classified briefings to Congress on US military boat strikes," CNN, Oct 27, 2025
"There were three strikes in the Pacific on Monday — with one hitting two boats at once — and bringing the number of known strikes carried out by the US military on alleged drug-smuggling vessels to 13 since the start of September. To date, those operations have destroyed 14 boats and killed 57 people — with three survivors." (CNN, Oct 28)
U.S. Military Required To Sign NDAs Tied To Latin America Mission: Reuters: The step is highly unusual, given that U.S. military officials are already required to shield national security secrets from public view. Phil Stewart, Reuters, Oct 29, 2025
Democrats Fume After GOP Shuts Them Out Of Briefing On Trump's Military Strikes Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) called the move "corrosive not only to our democracy but downright dangerous for our national security." Igor Bobic, HuffPost, Oct 30, 2025
"The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk called for an investigation into the strikes, in what appeared to mark the first such condemnation of its kind from a United Nations organization."
U.N. Human Rights Chief Says U.S. Strikes On Alleged Drug Boats Are 'Unacceptable' The attacks, which Donald Trump has justified as necessary to stem the flow of drug into the U.S., have killed at least 61 people. Associated Press, Oct 31, 2025
"Sources told the Herald that the targets — which could be struck by air in a matter of days or even hours — also aim to decapitate the cartel’s hierarchy."
— U.S. poised to strike military targets in Venezuela in escalation against Maduro regime, Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, October 31, 2025
Trump Administration Admits It Doesn’t Know Who Exactly It’s Killing in Boat Strikes, Nick Turse, The Intercept, October 31, 2025
Pentagon Admits to Striking Boats Without Identifying Victims’ Drug Links: The White House cannot “satisfy the evidentiary burden” to prosecute those they have been killing, one lawmaker said. Chris Walker, Truthout, October 31, 2025
"The Pentagon has deliberately shifted its strategy in recent weeks to striking suspected narcotraffickers in the eastern Pacific Ocean, rather than the Caribbean Sea, because administration officials believe they have stronger evidence linking cocaine transport to the US from those western routes, according to people familiar with the matter.
The intelligence suggests that cocaine is far more likely to be trafficked from Colombia or Mexico, rather than Venezuela, the sources said, raising more questions about the true purpose of the US military buildup in the Caribbean Sea.
The last four US military strikes targeting suspected drug smugglers were carried out in the eastern Pacific, according to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and sources said that future attacks are likely to be concentrated in that area because of the stronger link to US markets."
— Natasha Bertrand & Zachary Cohen, "Pentagon shifts to Pacific strikes seeking stronger link between targets and US drug trafficking," CNN, October 31, 202514 strikes. 61 dead. “But the administration does not know their identities.” 🤷🏼 🛶 💣 theweek.com/politics/pen...
— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) November 1, 2025 at 9:25 AM
[image or embed]"The Trump administration is inching closer to entering the U.S. into war with Venezuela without providing evidence justifying it, pursuing any formal debate or authorization or outlining a plan to deal with the chaos experts say will almost certainly ensue." Hey: "Military officials told Congress on Thursday that they do not know exactly who they have killed so far, Democratic lawmakers said after a briefing." It would be the second time in Trump's second presidency that he has attacked "a nation that has not attacked the U.S. in less than a year — the first being against Iran in June...underscoring the hollowness of Trump’s claims he is enhancing world peace." (HuffPost, Nov 1, 2025)
Hegseth bars military officials from discussing drug boat strikes with Congress without prior approval, Natasha Bertrand, CNN, November 2, 2025
Mike Johnson Brags Of 'Exquisite' Drug Boat Intel While Lawmakers Beg For Any Bit Of Evidence: The House speaker said the Pentagon has plenty of proof the vessels belong to "narco-terrorists," just none it can share with congress yet. Kelby Vera, HuffPost, Nov 2, 2025
What if, and stay with me, the barbaric and imperious way the United States responded to 9/11 is an enormous part of how we got here
— Jonathan M. Katz (@katz.theracket.news) November 2, 2025 at 1:35 PM
[image or embed]The boats are "in most cases far too small to have been en route to the United States without requiring multiple stops for refueling," and Trump's claims that bombing them is "disrupt[s] fentanyl trafficking into the U.S. are belied by what Pentagon officials have told members of Congress in recent briefings." A congressional source told reporters: "They’ve not recovered fentanyl in any of these cases. It’s all been cocaine." (HuffPost, Nov 4, 2025)
"One of these lists is tied to Trump’s undeclared war in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean, where the U.S. military is summarily executing alleged drug traffickers. There are reportedly dozens of groups on the list, but only two organizations — the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the Colombian guerrilla group Ejército de Liberación Nacional — are publicly known.
* * *
Unlike with prior lists, such as the State Department’s register of FTOs, it’s currently impossible to know if you are a member of a domestic terrorist group and what the penalties might include."
Are You on Trump’s List of Domestic Terrorists? There’s No Way to Know. The Trump administration is using NSPM-7 to compile the names of alleged domestic terror groups. It won’t tell us who’s on the list. Nick Turse, The Intercept, November 4 2025
Trump has free rein to kill: The Office of Legal Counsel is rubber-stamping extrajudicial killings in Latin America, Jesselyn Radack, Salon, Nov 4, 2025
Venezuela’s Maduro, fearing US attack, promotes app to report suspect behavior, CNN, Nov 5, 2025
"Trump administration officials told lawmakers on Wednesday that the US is not currently planning to launch strikes inside Venezuela and doesn’t have a legal justification that would support attacks against any land targets right now, according to sources familiar with the briefing conducted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and an official from the White House’s Office of Legal Counsel."
Trump admin tells Congress it currently lacks legal justification to strike Venezuela, Natasha Bertrand, Jennifer Hansler, Katie Bo Lillis, Zachary Cohen, Kylie Atwood, CNN, Nov 6, 2025"The Senate on Thursday rejected a bipartisan resolution seeking to stop the Trump administration from taking military action against Venezuela without congressional approval."
Senate rejects effort to block unauthorized US military action against Venezuela, Veronica Stracualursi, CNN, Nov 6, 2025"Senate Republicans on Thursday rejected a bipartisan war powers resolution aimed at stopping the Trump administration from continuing its bombing of alleged drug boats or attacking Venezuela without lawmakers’ assent, as required by law."
Senate GOP Kills Bill That Would Block Trump Boat Bombings and War on Venezuela “Shame on the Republicans who continue to shirk their duty and deny their constituents a voice,” said one retired US Army general. Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams, Nov 6, 2025Trump’s Murderous Policy Against Venezuela Is Part of a Bloody History: On the long tail of US intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean. Chuck Idelson, Common Dreams, Nov 6, 2025
Trump Accused Boat Crews Of Being Narco-Terrorists. The Truth Is More Nuanced. The Associated Press learned the identities of four of the men who were slain, providing the first detailed account of those who died in the U.S. military strikes. Regina Garcia Cano, AP, HuffPost, Nov 7, 2025
Trump Has a Secret List of 24 “Designated Terrorist Organizations.” We Got Some of the Names. The U.S. claims it is engaged in “armed conflict” with Tren de Aragua, Ejército de Liberación Nacional, and Cártel de los Soles, among others. Nick Turse, The Intercept, November 7 2025
US military strikes 2 boats, killing 6 in Eastern Pacific, Natasha Bertrand, CNN, Nov 10, 2025
Exclusive: UK suspends some intelligence sharing with US over boat strike concerns in major break, Natasha Bertrand, CNN, Nov 11, 2025
As Washington weighs options on Venezuela, US invasion of Panama offers an imperfect blueprint for military action, Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Nov 14, 2025
US ramps up pressure campaign on Venezuela, set to designate cartel as foreign terrorist organization, CNN, Nov 16, 2025
US military carried out 21st strike on alleged drug boat, killing 3, CNN, Nov 16, 2025
Trump says he’d be "proud" to strike drug facilities in countries such as Mexico and Colombia. From CNN's Donald Judd, Nov 17, 2025
‘President Trump has put the gun on the table:’ John Bolton on new escalation with Venezuela (2:01), CNN video, Nov 17, 2025
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