Over the past few months, the United States military has carried out at least 12 strikes on suspected drug boats headed towards the country, killing at least 64 people so far.
There have been mixed reactions to the strikes, with some praising them as preventing potential drug deaths. Others have condemned the attacks as illegal due to the lack of evidence that the boats were legitimately carrying illegal material.
The first strike was carried out on September 2nd of this year. This strike killed 11 people. President Trump believes these people were a part of the Tren de Aragua gang, a group Trump had previously designated as a terrorist group. The administration has called these groups “narcoterrorists”.They were believed to be carrying illicit drugs and headed for the United States border. There are also conflicting reports that the boat had potentially begun to turn back around when the strike occurred.
Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president, responded to this strike by saying it was a “heinous crime”. Most of the strikes have been disputed and argued as illegal by the countries where the people on the boat originated. This has led to increased tensions between the US and many countries in South America as a result of the military action. On October 24th, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, deployed an aircraft carrier to the coast of Latin America. President Trump has said that he wants to remove Maduro from power, and he is currently contemplating his options about how he wants to proceed.
Ms. McDowell, a history teacher and the chair of the history department here at SCH, says, “The whole situation is very unclear.” She says that there has been little information released about the strikes, and thus little information about potential evidence, or potential lack thereof, of proof that these boats are carrying drugs.
These strikes bring up questions about the power in the executive branch, specifically in the president, and their ability to carry out these types of actions without outside approval.
