The US Navy's Southern Command has resumed attacks on what US President Donald Trump's administration says are "drug boats." These are believed to be smuggler vessels used by cartels to transport narcotics from South America to the US.

This brings the total number of ships sunk to over 50 since September 2025, according to various media reports. British news outlet The Guardian says at least 177 suspects have been killed so far. The US government has not yet, however, provided any evidence the ships were transporting illicit cargo or revealed the identities of those killed.

Some observers are highly critical of these attacks. One such critic is Carlos Perez Ricart of Mexico's Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE), who told DW "[these strikes] are extrajudicial killings." The US administration rejects such criticism and has offered a series of justifications for why its deadly military strikes comply with international law. It says that in essence, strikes constitute an act of self-defense as cartel actions amount to an armed attack on the US.

Toward the end of his first term in office, Donald Trump had wanted to label drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, yet refrained from doing so at the request of Mexico's then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Trump did, however, go ahead with the designation in February 2025, shortly after beginning his second term in office. His administration initially applied the terrorism label to  Mexican drug cartels, El Salvador's Mara Salvatrucha street gang and Venezuela's Tren de Aragua crime syndicate.

Legal classifications and their implications

In October 2025, several US news outlets, citing anonymous sources, reported that the Trump administration now viewed itself as being in a "non-international armed conflict" with cartels, and classified those killed in boat strikes as "unlawful combatants." Later in December, Trump officially classified fentanyl as a "weapon of mass destruction." All designations play a role in international law and have different implications, though a range of legal experts doubt that they are applicable in this context.

There is no doubt that drug cartels are causing considerable harm in the US. Every year, tens of thousands of people die from drugs smuggled into the country from Latin America. Illegally manufactured fentanyl has been by far the deadliest drug of all. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that it accounted for almost 70% of lethal US overdoses. Indeed, fentanyl is so toxic that it can be deployed as a weapon. This happened in 2002, when Russian authorities used the chemical to end theMoscow Dubrovka theater hostage crisis.

The fentanyl sold illegally throughout the US is primarily produced in Mexico, rather than in South America. The same goes for psychostimulants, which are the second-deadliest drug category in the US after synthetic opioids like fentanyl, according to NIDA. South America is largely responsible for cocaine smuggled into the US.

Most deadly US strikes, meanwhile, have occurred in the Caribbean, from where drugs are typically smuggled to Europe by boat, rather than in the Pacific region, which is the route taken by many US-bound narcotics smugglers.

What have the attacks achieved?

"Drug smugglers have certainly become more cautious because they know what they are up against," says national security expert and former US military lawyer Manuel Supervielle. He has no doubt the sunk boats were actually carrying drugs. That said, he knows from his time as a Southern Command lawyer in the early 2000s that the fight against drug traffickers does not have to be lethal. He tells DW that during his time, snipers would take out boat engines from helicopters to render them unmaneuverable. "Then the coast guard would arrive, arresting the crew and confiscated the drugs," Supervielle recalls.

Alex Papadovassilakis of investigative news outlet InSight Crime believes that US attacks have successfully disrupted certain drug smuggling routes in the Caribbean. "But that doesn't mean the cocaine stops flowing," Papadovassilakis tells DW. "Drug cartels have many more options, especially as the US cannot maintain this degree of military pressure in the long term."

Economist Perez Ricard casts further doubt on the effectiveness of the US strategy, telling DW that "the price of a gram of cocaine on the streets of New York and Los Angeles has not changed."

The removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro could have a far greater impact on narcotics smuggling from South America, says Victor M. Mijares, a political scientist at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia, telling DW that "we know there is a lot of evidence linking the regime to drug trafficking."

Does Trump genuinely care about fighting drug smugglers?

Supervielle believes this inefficiency as well as US struggles to justify its strikes suggest that the US was really trying to create the political conditions for Maduro's downfall. "He was only the face of the regime, while others made the real decisions, but now they are cooperating," Supervielle tells DW.

Indeed, Venezuela's interim government, led by Delcy Rodriguez, says it is working professionally with the US government. This pertains mainly to the opening up of the Venezuelan economy to US investors, particularly in the oil sector. The Latin American country has the world's largest known oil reserves.

Perez Ricart argues that Trump is primarily concerned with his domestic base. This, political scientist Mijares says, is precisely what matters most to President Trump at this time. "He needs to unite the MAGA base behind him in view of the upcoming elections."

This article was translated from German.