Reports indicate that at least 21 Venezuelan citizens have been killed by U.S. forces for alleged “narcotrafficking,” without due process.
The United States is once again focusing on Venezuela, continuing its long-standing pursuit of regime change.
The Trump administration’s purported war on Venezuelan drug smugglers has reportedly resulted in the extrajudicial killings of 21 Venezuelans in recent weeks. The deployment of U.S. troops, aircraft, and warships near Venezuelan waters has raised concerns about a potential U.S. military intervention.
Over the past month, the U.S. military has conducted multiple attacks on boats that President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed were carrying drugs destined to “poison Americans.” However, neither official provided evidence or specific details about these incidents.
The legal procedure for dealing with drug traffickers would be to arrest and prosecute them. Instead, these individuals were allegedly killed on sight, purportedly with missiles. Trump justified these actions by claiming the victims were “extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists” posing a threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy, and vital interests.
In summary, these actions constitute extrajudicial assassinations in international waters, conducted without congressional authorization.
Furthermore, 18 armed U.S. Navy personnel from the USS Jason Dunham boarded and occupied a Venezuelan tuna fishing vessel, Carmen Rosa, for eight hours in Venezuelan waters, representing another provocation against Caracas.
Beyond the legality of these actions, the underlying justification is questionable. Washington has a history of using flimsy pretexts for attempted regime changes globally, particularly in Latin America. The irony is that the U.S. also has a lengthy history of involvement in drug trafficking.
President Nicolas Maduro has denied Trump’s accusations, asserting that Venezuela has eliminated major drug-trafficking operations and dismantled prominent gangs, including the Tren de Aragua.
Pino Arlacchi, former head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), stated that during his tenure, he frequently visited Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil, but “never to Venezuela” because “there was simply no need.”
He argues that, contrary to the Trump administration’s accusations (“geopolitically motivated slander”), the Venezuelan government’s “collaboration in the fight against drug trafficking was among the best in South America, rivaled only by Cuba’s impeccable record.”
According to Arlacchi, “Colombia produces over 70% of the world’s cocaine. Peru and Bolivia cover most of the remaining 30%,” adding that the routes to American and European markets run via the Pacific to Asia, through the eastern Caribbean to Europe, and overland through Central America to the U.S. “Geographically, Venezuela is disadvantaged for all three main routes, as it borders the South Atlantic. Criminal logistics mean that Venezuela plays only a marginal role in the grand theater of international narcotrafficking.”
US War buildup around Venezuela
Chas Freeman, a former U.S. diplomat with 30 years of State Department experience, stated that the Trump administration’s actions are “part of a longstanding 21st-century effort to overthrow the government of Venezuela.”
“Very clearly the Trump administration, and I think Marco Rubio in particular, are trying very hard to engineer regime change in Caracas.”
In August, the U.S. offered a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, contrasting with the earlier removal of the $10 million bounty on al-Qaeda/ISIS terrorist Abu Mohammed al-Joolani, the “president” of Syria.
Under the war-on-drugs pretext, the Trump administration, through the Department of Defense, deployed five (of ten planned) U.S. F-35 aircraft to Puerto Rico, following the deployment of at least eight naval vessels, one, and an estimated 4,000 troops to the region.
In response, Venezuelans continue to mobilize against the U.S. threats, with a 4.5 million-person-strong people’s militia, in addition to the active members of the Venezuelan army.
A long track of regime change attempts
U.S. meddling in Venezuela has always been about controlling the country’s resources, particularly its oil reserves, rather than human rights or drugs.
In his first term, Trump supported Juan Guaido as “interim president” in Venezuela and carried out sabotage operations to sway public opinion towards Guaido.
These efforts failed. Reports from the time described the effects of alleged U.S. sabotage on Venezuela’s electrical grid, causing a six-day nationwide power outage. Subsequent attacks, including arson, caused further outages.
U.S. media portrayed Venezuela as being in chaos, with food shortages and a lack of support for President Maduro.
However, reports from the time indicated that despite darkened buildings and long lines at water dispensaries and ATMs, there was no widespread instability. Venezuelans were reportedly working together to cope with the power outage, and supermarkets and street markets had ample food supplies.
There were also displays of support for Maduro and in Venezuela, particularly from Afro-descendant Venezuelans in Caracas’ poorest communities, who expressed their understanding of U.S. interests in destabilizing the country.
Chas Freeman considers the U.S. objectives in Venezuela a misreading of Venezuelan politics.
“The fact is that there is a 4.5 million man armed militia in Venezuela which has been mobilized against a possible invasion or a coup attempt. You don’t have a 4.5 million man militia armed if you’re not confident of your position in power and your authority.”
This latest attempt to destabilize Venezuela is likely to fail as the previous ones. However, as in the past, the U.S. will likely cause the deaths of Venezuelan civilians.