At least 126 people have been killed in U.S. military and coast guard operations in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean over the past four months, according to a statement released on Monday, January 26, by the U.S. Southern Command.
The statement said that since September, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard have carried out a total of 36 operations targeting vessels suspected of smuggling drugs into the United States. Of the 126 people reportedly killed in these operations, the bodies of 116 have been recovered, while 10 others are believed to have died at sea after going missing during U.S. strikes.
The operations began after former U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a crackdown in September, accusing criminal gangs of flooding the United States with drugs via maritime routes from Mexico and several South American countries. Trump had alleged that a large portion of drugs entering the U.S. travels through the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific and claimed that some South American governments were providing protection to drug-trafficking gangs.
According to the U.S. Southern Command, at least eight of those killed had jumped into the sea from small boats or vessels in an attempt to escape U.S. forces. They were later confirmed dead.
Trump had previously named Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, and other South American countries as key sources or transit points for drugs entering the United States. He also accused the leadership of some of these countries of supporting or turning a blind eye to organized crime networks involved in drug trafficking.
In a separate and highly controversial development, U.S. forces reportedly carried out an unprecedented military operation in Venezuela on January 3, abducting President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from the presidential residence in Caracas. The couple has been accused by the United States of involvement in drug trafficking, and preparations are reportedly underway for their trial in a U.S. court.
However, Trump’s claims and the broader U.S. narrative on drug trafficking have drawn criticism. Critics argue that the most dangerous and widely used drug in the United States today is fentanyl, and that much of the fentanyl and its raw materials originate from China and India, entering the U.S. mainly through land routes across the Mexican border.
