Trump orders drone strikes on “narco-terrorists”
During his combined five years in office, Donald Trump has usually tried to end wars. He has led controversial negotiations to attempt to end the conflicts in Ukraine, brokered a ceasefire in Gaza, and claimed to have personally ended five additional wars. Yet Trump’s recent strikes on alleged drug boats in Venezuela have contradicted his prior attempts at peace, revealing the Trump administration’s disdain for international law and aggressive foreign policy.
On September 2, 2025, Donald Trump announced that the United States had conducted a drone strike on a Venezuelan boat allegedly carrying fentanyl headed for America. Killing all 11 “narco-terrorists” on board, Trump stated that the strike served as a warning to those transporting narcotics into the U.S. On September 15, a second boat was hit, and a third boat was destroyed on September 19.
While Trump has always been keen on clamping down on drug trafficking, his use of the military to kill alleged drug dealers clearly pushes his actions into an illegal area under international law. Normally, boats suspected of carrying narcotics are intercepted by Coast Guard officials. The boats’ occupants would be detained and tried in court, not killed, and drugs are found in most operations. By blowing up these boats, however, there is no way to know whether drugs were actually on the vessels, and even if they were, the suspects were killed without trial, which is an act contrary to the fundamentals of American democracy. By ignoring international and domestic laws, the Trump administration acts with impunity and essentially pushes any policy it wishes.
Secondly, language is another important factor. After announcing the strikes on the first boat, Trump, J.D. Vance, and other high-ranking members of the Trump administration referred to the suspected drug traffickers as “narco-terrorists.” By labeling the suspects as terrorists, Trump can legitimize the boat strikes under legislation passed post-9/11 that enabled the Bush and Obama administrations to kill suspected terrorists without congressional approval.
While these three ships were sunk under the premise of stopping the flow of illegal drugs, drug trafficking may not be the main reason Trump conducted the drone strikes. Starting in August of 2025, President Trump ordered a naval buildup of ships, fighter jets, and soldiers in the Southern Hemisphere. Venezuela’s socialist regime has frequently opposed American interests in Central and South America, often putting the countries at odds with each other. Venezuelans have also become more divided following the nation’s 2024 election, which was widely presumed to be rigged in favor of Venezuela’s controversial president, Nicolas Maduro. This political controversy has caused a schism in the country between those supporting the regime and those hoping for democracy. By displaying a show of military strength in Venezuela’s backyard, Trump may hope to engage in a 21st-century iteration of Theodore Roosevelt’s “big stick diplomacy,” where Venezuela is threatened by force to support American foreign policy and ideals. If one thing’s certain, it’s that tensions are rising between the United States and Venezuela, as Maduro has declared a state of emergency and spread inflammatory comments about American intentions in the region.
Whether the people on the boats are drug dealers or not, the Trump administration has shown its contempt for international laws by overstepping its authority to kill and capture alleged criminals. While pressuring Venezuela might not have been President Trump’s objective, he has certainly caused a violent and dangerous escalation between the two nations, deep in debate. These recent, unpredictable developments not only go to show how valuable dialogue is, but also the need for it now more than ever.
