US Strikes on Caribbean and Pacific Drug Trafficking

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Since Sept. 2, the United States has widened its use of kinetic force against maritime drug routes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. To date, the campaign has eliminated more than a dozen suspected trafficker boats and killed more than 60 crew. In doing so, the U.S. has effectively militarized counternarcotics policy across two hemispheric corridors – a dramatic escalation from traditional interdictions.

Because the campaign is only two months old, the data remain too preliminary to reveal any measurable effect on drug flow or consumption. Historically, interdiction alone has rarely affected systemic supply; even the large-scale seizures and airstrikes conducted as part of Plan Colombia in the 2000s only displaced smuggling routes rather than reducing total drug exports. Lasting disruption will likely depend on whether the U.S. extends pressure beyond open-sea engagements to the infrastructure that sustains the trade, including the non-state ports, clandestine airstrips and illicit fuel storage networks that enable transshipment across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

Concentrating around Venezuela, Colombia and the Central American corridor, the U.S. campaign functions as both interdiction and signaling – underscoring U.S. willingness to assert control over hemispheric transit routes. Its strategic value, however, will hinge on whether deterrence endures once the strikes subside.