Drug Boats From Venezuela Are Mainly Moving Cocaine To Europe — Not Fentanyl To The U.s., Experts Say

President Donald Trump and his Pentagon main opportunity U.S. subject strikes connected suspected supplier boats successful waters disconnected Latin America are redeeming lives by preventing narcotics from reaching America’s shores.

But supplier cartels operating vessels successful nan Caribbean, wherever astir 50% of nan airstrikes person taken place, are chiefly moving cocaine from South America to Europe — not to nan United States, according to existent and erstwhile U.S. rule enforcement and subject officials arsenic good arsenic narcotics experts. And nan deadliest supplier of all, fentanyl, is almost exclusively smuggled complete onshore from Mexico, nan officials and experts say.

The realities of nan supplier waste and acquisition successful Latin America telephone into mobility portion of nan administration’s stated rationale for its unprecedented subject run against suspected narcotics smuggling boats, and whether it will person immoderate important effect connected nan proviso of narcotics successful nan United States, according to nan officials and experts.

“Fentanyl is not coming retired of Venezuela. Fentanyl comes from Mexico,” said Christopher Hernandez-Roy, a elder chap astatine nan Center for Strategic and International Studies deliberation vessel successful Washington. “What’s coming retired of Venezuela is cocaine.”

And astir of that cocaine is nary longer headed to nan U.S., according to Hernandez-Roy, who co-authored a 2023 study on nan subject.

The cocaine marketplace successful Europe has “exploded” successful caller years, he said, because it’s “more lucrative and there’s little of a chance, astatine slightest astatine immoderate levels of nan proviso chain, of facing situation time.”

A U.S. charismatic pinch expertise connected counternarcotics efforts offered a akin assessment, saying cocaine accounts for astir 90% of nan narcotics coming from Venezuela and is “almost each destined for Europe.”

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly responded successful a statement.

“All of these decisive strikes person been against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores, and nan President will proceed to usage each constituent of American powerfulness to extremity narcotics from flooding into our state and to bring those responsible to justice,” Kelly said.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said “our intelligence did so corroborate these boats were trafficking narcotics destined for America.”

“That aforesaid intelligence besides confirms that nan individuals progressive successful these supplier operations were narco-terrorists, and we guidelines by that assessment,” he added.

Since Sept. 2, nan U.S. subject has carried retired 21 lethal strikes connected boats that nan management says are ferrying narcotics, sidesplitting much than 80 people, according to nan Pentagon.

A video Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted connected X reportedly shows U.S. subject forces conducting a onslaught connected a alloy successful nan Caribbean Sea connected Oct. 23.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth via AFP - Getty Images

The management has travel nether disapproval astatine location and overseas complete nan legality of nan vessel strikes, pinch lawmakers from some parties expressing concerns that nan attacks break U.S. and world law. Some NATO friends person distanced themselves from nan strikes and nan United Kingdom has withheld applicable intelligence connected Latin American supplier smuggling astatine oversea complete concerns nan run whitethorn beryllium illegal, NBC News has antecedently reported.

The Trump management has defended nan aerial attacks arsenic a ineligible action against a threat to nationalist information and an effective attack to fighting narco-traffickers.

Trump has said each vessel sunk by nan U.S. subject saves “25,000 lives” by stopping fentanyl and different narcotics from reaching U.S. shores. And successful a societal media station earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said nan U.S. subject would “find and terminate EVERY alloy pinch nan volition of trafficking narcotics to America to poison our citizens.”

Rahul Gupta, who served arsenic head of nan White House Office of National Drug Control Policy successful nan Biden administration, said astir of nan trafficking boats successful nan Caribbean are carrying cocaine bound for Europe, and nan group connected committee thin to beryllium young and hopeless for work.

“They’re recruiting young people, impressionable young people, truthful they tin do these runs for $100, $500, $1,000 backmost and forth,” Gupta said.

The supplier runners astatine oversea are often betwixt 15 and 24 years aged and nan cartel activity views them arsenic expendable, Gupta said. For nan cartels, “there is nary connection being sent because they really don’t attraction astir these people,” he said.

‘Go fast’ boats

Over nan past respective years, fentanyl and different synthetic opioids person accounted for nan immense mostly of overdose deaths successful nan U.S. In 2023, astir 77,000 Americans died from synthetic opioids, chiefly fentanyl, which accounted for 76% of each overdose deaths, according to nan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Highly powerful but easy concealed, fentanyl is mostly transported not by vessel successful nan Caribbean but complete onshore crossed nan U.S.-Mexico border, according to experts and U.S. authorities reports.

Cocaine mostly arrives to nan state connected boats that velocity crossed nan Pacific and originate from Colombia aliases Ecuador.

A alloy successful nan eastbound Pacific moments earlier a U.S. onslaught connected Nov. 15.U.S. Southern Command

Trump has ordered a buildup of U.S. forces arsenic portion of his run against Latin American supplier cartels, pinch an craft bearer and different warships and craft deployed successful nan Caribbean. But location is nary akin naval buildup connected nan occidental broadside of South America successful nan eastbound Pacific, nan main way for cocaine into nan United States.

Drug runners from Venezuela typically return 60-foot “go fast” boats to a extremity successful nan Caribbean, wherever nan cargo is transferred to larger freighters and shipped connected to European ports, sometimes via West Africa, nan officials and experts say. Smaller amounts are smuggled aboard commercialized airliners by quality “mules.”

One celebrated way has nan smugglers heading to Trinidad and Tobago, a short, 7-mile vessel thrust from nan Venezuelan coast, according to nan officials and experts.

The traffickers return advantage of uninhabited islands and European overseas territories successful nan Caribbean. The British, French and Dutch islands connection nonstop aerial and maritime routes to Europe and person commercialized and familial ties to nan European continent.

A kilogram of cocaine costs astir $28,000 successful nan United States, but nan aforesaid magnitude fetches astir $40,000 connected mean successful Europe and arsenic overmuch arsenic $80,000 successful immoderate European countries, according to a study funded by nan Norwegian government.

William Baumgartner, a retired Coast Guard rear admiral and erstwhile main counsel to nan service, said nan strikes successful nan Caribbean will apt person nary awesome effect connected nan travel of fentanyl into nan United States.

“These boats do not transportation fentanyl. They are carrying cocaine,” Baumgartner told reporters successful a virtual briefing past week.

Baumgartner and different erstwhile subject and rule enforcement officials opportunity nan lethal strikes besides deprive nan United States of valuable intelligence astir nan cartel networks and their operations, arsenic location is nary opportunity to cod forensic grounds from seized narcotics aliases interrogate nan smugglers.

“Most of our intelligence comes from group that we seizure connected these vessels,” Baumgartner said. But if nan U.S. kills aliases repatriates nan group connected board, “we really wounded ourselves and our effectiveness successful nan agelong term,” he said.

Past counternarcotics efforts person often simply forced nan cartels to accommodate and reconfigure their smuggling routes, experts said.

Vanda Felbab-Brown, a elder chap astatine nan Brookings Institution, said nan U.S. subject strikes successful nan Caribbean were targeting boats that almost surely were ferrying cocaine to Europe, and would not impact nan immense supplier problem successful nan United States. The attacks apt will not deter nan cartels but only punctual them to take different routes aliases methods, arsenic nan imaginable profit continues to supply a beardown inducement to support smuggling, Felbab-Brown said.

Gupta, nan erstwhile supplier argumentation chief, said nan administration’s attack amounted to a maneuver without a strategy, pinch small imaginable for occurrence fixed that location are dozens of supplier smuggling boats successful nan Caribbean connected immoderate fixed day.

The strikes are “symbolic,” Gupta said. “But symbolism isn’t going to dainty group pinch addiction. Symbolism isn’t going to dismantle cartels, their logistics network, their measurement to make money, their full strategy that is there.”