What have U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats accomplished?

0:00Today on State of the World, what have U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats accomplished? You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. It's Tuesday, January 27th. I'm Greg Dixon. Over the past five months, the U.S. military has carried out nearly three dozen lethal attacks on suspected drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific. The latest strike on Friday killed two people, bringing the death toll from such operations to 126, according to U.S. officials. The policy has outraged U.S.

0:41allies and disrupted the lives of Colombian fishermen. But as John Otis reports, the attacks have done little to stop illegal narcotics from reaching the United States. He takes us to Colombia's northern coast, where fishermen fear being mistaken for traffickers.

1:01Here on Colombia's Caribbean coast, Yuris Cervantes starts his outboard motor and pushes off from shore. It's 5 a.m. and still dark. The Big Dipper shines overhead, and as we approach the open sea, we spot hundreds of herons. It's a placid scene, but Cervantes is nervous.

1:32He used to navigate some 40 miles offshore, where the fishing is much better. But he fears the U.S. military could mistake him for a cocaine trafficker and bomb his boat. For his own safety, Cervantes now stays close to shore. That's not the only change brought about by the lethal boat strikes, which Human Rights Watch and many legal experts describe as unlawful executions. The Allies don't want their intelligence to be used for what they regard as illegal operations, in other words, killing people on the high seas. That's Phil Gunson, who's based in Venezuela for the International Crisis Group.

2:15He says the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and France used to share with the U.S. its intelligence on drug smuggling in the Caribbean, but that's no longer the case. Another U.S. ally, Colombia, produces most of the world's cocaine, but instead of destroying drug boats, its military captures them. The Navy base in the coastal city of Cartagena is full of impounded narco submarines and go-fast boats, some of which can carry up to five tons of cocaine. The Colombian Navy had to fire on this go-fast boat to get it to stop, and its four outboard motors are just riddled with bullet holes. But the Colombian Navy almost never uses lethal force, preferring instead to take suspected drug traffickers alive to face legal charges and provide intelligence.

3:08Well, the Colombian Navy have rules of engagement in the sea. That's a Navy captain involved in counter-narcotics operations who asked to remain anonymous for his own safety. Since the U.S. bombing campaign began in September, he's seen no pause in drug smuggling. The last week we had a big seizure here in Colombia of GoFast with 4.5 tons of cocaine. In other words, the GoFast boats are still going. Yeah, they are still going out. President Trump claims the bombings have stopped 97 percent of all illegal drugs coming into the U.S. by water. However, drug policy analysts point out that most narco boats drop off their cargo in Central America or Mexico, with the drugs then taken overland to the U.S.

3:54And during the last three months of 2025, when the U.S. bombing campaign was in full force, drug seizures at the U.S.-Mexican border actually increased. They were up by 34 percent compared to the same period in 2024 when there were no bombings, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. I don't think it has any deterrent effect. Ben Steck-Schulte is a Tampa-based attorney who has defended suspected drug smugglers from Latin America. He explains that when they lose a few boats, the narcos shrug it off, change some of their routes, and launch more boats. The drug cartels kind of figure out, OK, we're going to lose some of these shipments, right?

4:37We understand that. That's the cost of doing business. But the boat bombings have disrupted the lives of Colombian fishermen, like Cervantes, who along with three crew members are now pulling up their nets. They catch a few sea bass as well as 14 lobsters that flop around in the bottom of the boat. It's not much for a day's work, but at least they're still fishing. Back on shore, Fermín Pérez of the local Fishers Association says some of his members have been traumatized by watching videos of the boat bombings.

5:18Many no longer go out in the ocean, he says, but we need to fish because that's how we live. That's how we eat. For NPR News, I'm John Otis on the Caribbean coast of Colombia.

5:35That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.