According to a declaration made by the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Reagan National Defense Forum in December, these narcoterrorists are the al Qaeda of the hemisphere. As he writes, this aggressive stance that Washington has taken in its growing sea and clandestine war on so-called drug traffickers connected to Venezuela is highlighted.
During the last days of 2025 and the early hours of 2026, the United States increased its pace of operation, hitting dozens of ships and even invading territories on land. The campaign that was originally presented as a counter-narcotics operation has gradually become mixed up with geopolitical goals, especially those related to pressuring the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The following listicle takes a closer look at the key points of the most recent strikes, their strategic context, and controversies about them, which should be of interest to defense watchers and policy analysts who follow the events in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
1. Two-Day Naval Battle Attacks Five Ships
In the same period, on December 30, and 31, US troops fired five suspected drug-smuggling vessels killing eight people. According to Southern Command, the former engagement was a blow against a convoy of three ships that were transiting through established trafficking corridors. There were three deaths on the lead boat and the other two boats had passengers who jumped overboard as those boats were destroyed. There were another two boats hit two hours later with five more people killed in the process. The military has not revealed the exact spot of such engagements reporting that they happened in the international waters only. This was the secrecy of operation that has been the same thing with the campaign.
2. Activation of Coast Guard in the face of Uncertainty of Survivors
After the strike of December 30, Southern Command transpired to seek US Coast Guard aid in search and rescue. A C-130 plane of the Coast Guard was deployed to carry survival raft and supplies. What happened to those who stayed behind in the ship is not known, and this reporting gap has been criticized by legislators and human rights watchdogs. This is an unprecedented move to use the Coast Guard considering incidences in the past such as the September strike where the survivors were killed in a follow up attack leading to some legal experts claiming that there were war crimes.
3. Targeting Land-Based Escalation
In the beginning of December, the CIA carried out a drone strike in a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, the first known US attack in the country since the maritime campaign was initiated. President Trump called it a strike against the docking area where they are loading the boats with drugs, saying that the site was an implementation area that is now destroyed. The target was reported to be associated with the Tren de Aragua gang and was utilized in storing and loading narcotics. Although there were no reported casualties, the strike was a major escalation as far as the law was concerned of the previous maritime actions.
4. Maduro as Strategic Target
The officials in administration have indicated that the strikes are among a wider pressure campaign to oust Nicolás Maduro. In an interview by Vanity Fair, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said Trump aims to continue hitting boats until Maduro admits defeat. This is in line with a trend of military escalation in the Caribbean, oil tanker roadblocks, and covert operations suggesting that this is not a single purpose policy of counter-narcotics but rather one of regime change.
5. Since September Fatality and Strike Totals
The newest developments put the number of targeted vessels at a minimum of 36 and the number of killed people at 115 since the aforementioned campaign started in September. These statistics, reported by the Trump administration, show the magnitude of the maritime interdiction campaign. These were long term operations implying commitment of resources and taking of political and legal risks in the face of lethal force in volatile situations.
6. Controversies of Law and Politics
The most controversial event is the September follow-on strike that killed survivors, the Democratic legislators and certain jurists believe that this can qualify as a war crime. The government upholds the legality of its moves by referring to the designation of some organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Opponents not only doubt the constitutionality of the strikes within Venezuela but also the lack of clear public justification, which they fear signifies a covert war with no end, going unmanageable by the congress.
7. Special Operations Role and Intelligence
Although the US Special Operations Command refuted any direct role in the CIA December port strike, it was alleged that the command assisted in intelligence support. The merging of military and intelligence resources reflects the strategies in counterterrorism operations, and uses comparable approaches to interdicting narcotics. This networking of capabilities increases operational scope but also complicates legal structures of the use of force.
8. Strategic Messages and Psychological Coercion
Other observers consider the strikes as a psychological operations campaign to destabilize the regime of Maduro and make his inner circle less loyal. The disorientation of strategies, which is created by the uncertainty of targets, they can shift in the sea or on land. Nevertheless, there are dangers of escalation and miscalculation of such tactics especially when the sovereign territory is involved.
9. Local and International Impact
The National Assembly of Venezuela has reacted to the blockade and strikes by passing legislation with a maximum sentence of 20 years in support of piracy or blockades. The campaign also overlaps with larger US policy in the Western Hemisphere including the implementation of an updated Monroe Doctrine to deny non-hemispheric powers access to strategic resources. These events indicate that the maritime strikes are in agreement with a bigger geopolitical game, which has an effect on regional stability, US-Latin American ties and the manner in which future military interventions are viewed.
The US operation against so called drug cartels led by Venezuela has shifted to land operations under the guise of counter-narcotics, and has been merging counter-narcotics and regime change operations. As the death toll continues to rise and lawsuits remain unpublished, policy-makers and analysts in the field of defense will take a keen interest in the direction this initiative takes. The question of whether or not it will result in its purported objectives- or produce unintended effects is an urgent strategic inquiry to 2026.
