Murder on the High Seas.

On September 2, 2025, President Trump ordered the U.S. military to start targeting boats in the Caribbean Sea suspected of smuggling drugs. To date fourteen boats off the coasts of Venezuela and Columbia have been destroyed and at least 57 people have been killed. These boats were suspected of carrying illegal drugs headed for the United States, but there is no proof of this.  The United States is not at war with Columbia or Venezuela, and the boats presented no imminent threat to any military or civilian personnel.
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Many lawmakers and legal experts have condemned Trump’s actions, calling the killings of suspected drug smugglers illegal, and labeling them “extrajudicial killings”. The Trump Administration has justified the killings by declaring that the United States is engaged in a formal “armed conflict” with drug cartels which it considers to be terrorist organizations.

According to Geoffrey S. Corn, a retired judge advocate general lawyer and the Army’s former senior advisor for law-of-war issues, the drug cartels would have to be engaged in “hostilities” against the United States to meet the legal definition of “armed conflict”. Smuggling and trafficking illegal drugs is not armed conflict, making it illegal to kill people engaged in such activities as if they were combatants on a battlefield.

The administration has also called the targeting and killing of suspected drug smugglers acts of self-defense. But these boats presented no imminent danger to the United States or to the military personnel conducting the strikes. If the strikes on drug smugglers were justified as self-defense or part of an armed conflict, then why hasn’t the administration targeted Mexico and China which are involved in fentanyl trafficking? Fentanyl is the deadliest illegal drug on America’s streets, and it is manufactured in Mexico from precursor chemicals purchased from China.
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The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is the lead law enforcement agency to counter illegal drug trafficking in the United States. The Coast Guard plays a critical role in preventing maritime drug smuggling and is sometimes assisted by the U.S. Navy. If boats headed to the United States are found to be carrying illegal drugs the crews are arrested and turned over to civilian law enforcement for prosecution. They are not taken out and executed without trial. 

​Where is the moral outrage?

Trump is demonstrating a callous disregard for human life. In speaking to reporters recently he said, “I think we are going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We are going to kill them, you know? They are going to be, like dead.”   There is no legal justification for these actions and are tantamount to murder.  Our commander in chief has taken on the roles of judge, jury and executioner.

We are a nation of laws and are supposed to abide by international norms of conduct. Even suspected drug runners, terrorists and murderers deserve their day in court. The United States was founded on Judeo-Christian values and many within the Trump Administration profess to be Christians. What part of the commandment “Thou Shalt Not Kill” don’t they understand?  Has the slaughter of innocents in Gaza and Ukraine numbed their sensibilities to the value of human life?  If the Trump Administration can justify the use of lethal force against any threat, real or perceived, is anyone of us really safe?

Trump Ratchets up Pressure on Venezuela:

The military has directed the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its carrier group go to the waters off South America to “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States”. In conjunction with this move Trump has acknowledged that he has authorized the C.I.A. to conduct covert actions in Venezuela, stepping up pressure against the country’s authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro.

Are Trump’s actions in the Caribbean region just about stopping illegal drug trafficking or is there something more at play here? The killing of suspected drug smugglers is just a smoke screen for the real intention of the Trump Administration. I believe that Trump is intent on forcing regime change in Venezuela, using force if necessary. For a president who campaigned on keeping the United States out of foreign conflicts, he is doing his darndest to get us into one. 

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Thanks,
Armchair American