US Strikes Third Alleged Drug-Carrying Boat in Caribbean, Kills Three

4 HOURS AGO·UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

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Image copyright: DonaldTrump/Truth Social via BBC News

The Spin

Pro-Trump narrative

These military strikes on drug-carrying boats are exactly the kind of bold action needed to protect U.S. lives from narco-terrorist organizations that have been allowed to flood the U.S. with a deadly weapon that poisons Americans for too long. Traditional law enforcement approaches have clearly failed to stop this carnage. Either Venezuelan drug traffickers surrender, or new strikes will follow.

American Spectator Breitbart Red State

Anti-Trump narrative

Whether you agree or not with Trump's claims that international drug smugglers are narco-terrorists, it's a matter of fact that drug trafficking into the U.S. is no act of war and that the use of military force to kill civilians is not automatically authorized once the White House designates an organization as a terrorist one. It's time for Congress either to declare war or to stop extrajudicial killings in peacetime.

Jacobin National Review Reason.com

Anti-Maduro narrative

While this approach sits well with Trump's MAGA base, there has been no damage to the criminal and illegitimate Maduro regime for now. Strikes on civilian boats carrying drugs don't help reveal any information about the drug cartels and their logistics network, and the U.S. has shown little appetite for direct confrontation with Venezuela. If that is the case, Maduro will tighten his grip on power.

Caracas Chronicles

Pro-Maduro narrative

Washington has provided no evidence for cartel accusations against high-officials in the Maduro government, so this military buildup is just another doomed-to-fail regime change attempt disguised as anti-drug operations. If this was actually about tackling drug cartels, the U.S. wouldn't focus on a country that is free of drug production and processing, but rather on its own drug demand and lax enforcement.

Venezuelanalysis