{"id":7265,"date":"2026-07-26T11:04:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=7265"},"modified":"2026-07-26T11:04:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:04:04","slug":"the-us-military-hasnt-blown-up-an-alleged-drug-boat-in-a-month-has-the-campaign-worked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=7265","title":{"rendered":"The US military hasn\u2019t blown up an alleged drug boat in a month. Has the campaign worked?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Amid the longest pause to date in the US military\u2019s deadly military strikes against alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, US law enforcement officials told CNN they are uncertain about the strikes\u2019 lasting impact after 11 months, and experts are skeptical they will meaningfully change the region\u2019s drug trade.\n <\/p>

Read more \u2018Going it alone does not work\u2019: America\u2019s first one-party war<\/a><\/p>\n

\n The official mission for Operation Southern Spear, as the boat strike initiative is known, is classified, according to a May 20 report from the Pentagon\u2019s inspector general office. The US military has destroyed at least 67 vessels and killed at least 221 people in the campaign that began in September 2025.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s not clear why the strikes have paused. The last occurred on June 21.\n <\/p>\n

\n But law enforcement officials and experts who spoke with CNN emphasized the resiliency and adaptability of drug smuggling networks, and they expressed skepticism about the lethal strike strategy and its effectiveness.\n <\/p>\n

\n US Southern Command, the headquarters overseeing Operation Southern Spear, told CNN in a statement that the mission \u201callows SOUTHCOM to take the fight to the cartels,\u201d many of which have been labeled as terrorist organizations, \u201cbefore their violence and poison reaches our shores.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The command, through a spokesperson, said the operation\u2019s objective is \u201cto detect, disrupt and dismantle\u201d cartels labeled as terrorist organizations, which \u201cdenies them a foothold in the Western Hemisphere.\u201d The mission also aims to deter cartels from smuggling drugs.\n <\/p>\n

\n When the campaign against alleged drug boats began last fall, it wasn\u2019t clear whether the purpose was to disrupt cartels or oust Venezuela\u2019s Nicolas Maduro, who was then the country\u2019s leader.\n <\/p>\n

\n Official statements always referenced the cartels, but top officials kept discussing Maduro.\n <\/p>\n

\n In his Truth Social post announcing the first strike, President Donald Trump called out Maduro for allegedly controlling the Tren de Aragua transnational gang, which his administration has labeled a cartel.\n <\/p>\n

\n In November, White House Chief of Staff Suzie Wiles told Vanity Fair magazine that Trump \u201cwant[ed] to keep on blowing boats up until [Venezuela\u2019s Nicolas] Maduro cries uncle.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But the boat strikes continued even after the US successfully captured Maduro in a daring nighttime January 3 raid into Caracas, Venezuela\u2019s capital. He now sits in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on charges related to drug trafficking, money laundering and corruption. Maduro has pleaded not guilty.\n <\/p>\n

\n Dozens more strikes have occurred since the Maduro raid, with the most recent being on June 21. Experts and law enforcement are still trying to assess what impact they\u2019ve had.\n <\/p>\n

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\n Since the boat strikes began, the amount of sea-borne cocaine seized by the Coast Guard has declined in both the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, according to data the service provided to CNN.\n <\/p>

Read more CNN Exclusive: How IndyCar\u2019s most ambitious street race became a test of politics, security and spectacle in Trump\u2019s DC<\/a><\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to measure this close in time,\u201d one Homeland Security official told CNN. \u201cWe have to wait and see what dent there is and, you know, how cartels are changing tactics.\u201d A second official cautioned CNN that cartels are likely using new routes, which could explain the drop.\n <\/p>\n

\n Nicholas Magliocca, a geography professor at the University of Alabama who has modeled how cocaine smugglers in Central America adapt to law enforcement pressure, told CNN that \u201cmeeting force with force\u201d during the decades-long US-led \u201cwar on drugs\u201d has only intensified the issue.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t see how targeting a small number of smuggling vessels with low-level traffickers onboard will change that,\u201d Magliocca said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Another cocaine trafficking expert, Sebastian Cutrona, said that sea-borne trafficking \u201cis often done through shipping containers, not through boats [like] those that have been attacked in the last few boats.\u201d He described the boat strike campaign as \u201cperformative\u201d in nature.\n <\/p>\n

\n Cutrona also noted that the Caribbean Sea routes are not the primary way that cocaine enters the US \u2014 most goes overland through the US-Mexico border.\n <\/p>\n

\n And while cocaine was responsible for nearly 20,000 US overdose deaths in 2025, synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which is largely produced in Mexico and the US using chemical precursors from countries like China and India, killed almost twice as many people in the US, or more than 38,000. Opioid overdose deaths were already waning as well when the strikes began.\n <\/p>\n

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\"Crates<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n
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\nCrates with bags of cocaine seized by US authorities, in an unknown location, as a cross-border drug tunnel between US and Mexico was discovered, in this screengrab taken from a handout video obtained by Reuters on June 2, 2026.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California\/Reuters<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t see that the United States is tackling the roots of the problem,\u201d said Cutrona, editor of a recent book about cocaine\u2019s Western Hemisphere supply chain and a senior criminology lecturer at the United Kingdom\u2019s Liverpool Hope University. \u201cThese are just low-level associates, and by killing them, the US is by no means \u2026 dismantling the criminal organizations that supply those illegal drugs.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Military officials don\u2019t always know the identities of everyone on board the boats they target, CNN previously reported, and they told the Pentagon inspector general they could not publicly disclose what criteria determine whether a boat is destroyed or intercepted by the Coast Guard.\n <\/p>\n

\n And cocaine is still reaching the United States.\n <\/p>\n

\n Customs and Border Protection officials are seizing thousands of pounds per month of the drug at the country\u2019s borders and in the country\u2019s interior, according to the agency\u2019s public data. The Drug Enforcement Agency also seized nearly 180,000 pounds of cocaine during the first half of 2026, according to its website.\n <\/p>\n

\n The head of US Southern Command, Marine Corps Gen. Francis Donovan, previously acknowledged the limitations of the boat strikes as well.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBoat strikes aren\u2019t the answer,\u201d Donovan told lawmakers in March.\n <\/p>\n

\nCNN\u2019s Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\nDavis Winkie\u2019s work at CNN is supported by a partnership between\u202f<\/em>Outrider Foundation<\/em>\u202fand Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). CNN retains full editorial control of the reporting.<\/em>\n<\/p>

Read more Vance, Caine raised concerns about escalating war in Iran, sources say as US pauses consecutive nights of strikes<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid the longest pause to date in the US military\u2019s eleven months of deadly military strikes against alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, US law enforcement officials told CNN they are uncertain about the strikes\u2019 lasting impact, and experts are skeptical they will meaningfully impact the drug trade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nThe US military hasn\u2019t blown up an alleged drug boat in a month. 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