US operations against suspected drug boats in Latin America have failed to slow the rate of cocaine entering the US.
The Washington Post reviewed a DEA assessment that found the strikes on vessels operated by alleged narco-terrorists have not changed the amount or price of cocaine entering the US. US military officials also admitted to Congress that the operations have had no impact on purity.
Last year, President Donald Trump ordered the Department of War to target suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) has conducted dozens of strikes, killing over 200 people. The Pentagon has labeled the dead as narco-terrorists. However, several family members of victims have asserted the dead were engaged in fishing or other legal activities.
The DEA said that cartels have designed new methods to smuggle drugs into the US. Cartels have bribed Colombian officials to get the location of US warships and used small aircraft for alternative routes to traffic cocaine into the US. “When you squeeze the balloon on one side, it always expands on the other side,” one DEA official told The Post. “They always find the weak spots and exploit them.”
A senior Colombian official also told the outlet that the US military operations have had little impact on the cartels. “There was a dissuasive effect in one type of transportation,” they explained. “So it has forced them to seek out other methods. Taking the drugs out through ports has increased, stockpiling it on large ships.”
Congress has not authorized the President to wage war against foreign drug cartels. The White House has attempted to justify the lethal operation by designating the cartels as narco-terrorists. However, drug smuggling is a criminal act, not an act of war. Senator Rand Paul has argued the strikes amount to extrajudicial killing.
