The US uses the fight against drugs as a justification for future military actions in Latin America.

WashingtonDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Wednesday of more such actions. Tuesday's attack on a boat leaving Venezuela and was allegedly transporting drugs. "Anyone who traffics in these waters and who we know to be a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate," Hegseth said in statements to Fox. Later, from Mexico, Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated the same message and stated that attacks like this "will happen again." The head of diplomacy assures that this is only the beginning of a larger operation in the region.

The refrain to justify a sustained military campaign in Latin America under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking seems to hit the same notes as the justifications for the fight against terrorism in the early 2000s.

"We have resources in the air, resources in the water, resources on ships because this is an extremely serious mission for us, and it won't stop with just this attack," added the Secretary of Defense, who has yet to provide further details about the eleven people killed yesterday by the US military. Both Rubio and President Donald Trump claimed they had information confirming that they were members of the criminal gang El Tren de Aragua and that they were transporting drugs to the US.

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan government denies the facts. The country's Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, has asserted that authorities in Washington "invented" the alleged attack on a drug-carrying vessel as part of the "usual" strategy, with the goal of bringing about "regime change in Venezuela" and causing the country to "leave the revolution." For Cabello, many questions remain about the alleged attack: "It's not clear," he said.

President Nicolás Maduro considers the military deployment in the Caribbean Sea to be an "onslaught" by the United States and maintains that Venezuela will remain "standing" and with "unshakeable faith in victory." "Today, imperialism launches a new attack; it is not the first nor the last, just another attack, and Venezuela is standing, and I tell you that Venezuela will remain standing, with serenity, with firmness, with unshakeable faith in victory and in peace," he said Wednesday night on state television.

Lack of details

Beyond the Americans' version of events, it has not been possible to clarify the nationality of the individuals or whether they actually belonged to El Tren de Aragua. Last spring, after a long legal battle, the US government acknowledged that it had "mistakenly" deported Salvadoran Kilmar Ábrego García, who was also accused of belonging to a criminal gang.

Hegseth has also not provided further details about the means used to carry out the attack, saying it was classified information. It is not known whether the vessel was destroyed by a drone, a missile, or what type of projectile was fired. The Pentagon has not released details about the crew or why it decided to kill the occupants. Trump limited his response from the Oval Office on Wednesday to the fact that the vessel was carrying "a lot of drugs."

The US government has not yet publicly invoked any law to defend the military operation, nor has it even said what drugs were on board to justify the action. The only code the US government appears to be relying on to justify this military campaign is the executive order Trump signed on January 20, designating several cartels (including Venezuela's El Tren de Aragua, El Cartel de los Soles, and Salvadoran MS-13) as terrorist organizations. The signing of the decree raised alarm bells because reclassifying drug traffickers as terrorists opened the door to military action outside US territory in support of the fight against terrorism. Last July, Trump signed a secret order authorizing the Pentagon to mobilize troops to fight drug traffickers.

Unlike the attack on Iran, in which Trump cited an authority to carry out the action, the administration has not said what authority it invoked to take the action. In the post the US president shared yesterday on social media, which featured footage of the attack, Trump noted that the action had taken place in "international waters."

Last August, the United States began its siege against Nicolás Maduro's regime by deploying a flotilla with more than 4,500 marinas at the edge of Venezuela's territorial waters. "The only person who should be worried is Nicolás Maduro, who is, effectively, the head of a drug-trafficking state," Hegseth said. In Caracas, tensions have only increased. Although Maduro maintains a low profile, Venezuelan Communications Minister Freddy Ñáñez suggested in a social media post that the video of the attack was created using artificial intelligence.

Rubio advocates going further.

The unprecedented escalation against Venezuela also coincides with the tour Rubio for Latin America. This Wednesday, he met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who is also navigating the Trump administration's erratic demands to end drug trafficking. It was at the meeting that he defended the operation against the vessel. The Secretary of State has argued that previous efforts to intercept drug trafficking operations in Latin America have not worked, so tougher action is needed. "What will stop them is if you blow them up, if you get rid of them," he said. He added that "the president has the right to eliminate those types of threats."

There is also fear of a possible military intervention in Mexican territory, especially given that the US has deployed thousands of troops across the border since January to curb immigration and the entry of drugs. When the secret authorization at the Pentagon became known in August, Sheinbaum had to calm the population and assure them that there would be no military intervention.

The Mexican president has been at pains to emphasize that she will cooperate with the Trump administration, but will not submit to it. This is a delicate balance amid tariff pressures and the Mexican reality, where drug trafficking is extremely powerful and a direct confrontation can easily turn into a powder keg. Just remember the 2019 Culiacanazo, when the Sinaloa cartel virtually laid siege to the city of Culiacán (in Sinaloa) following the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, one of the leaders of Los Chapitos and son of Joaquín Guzmán, known as El Chapo.

In a more recent example of Mexico's complex reality, there are the statements by Ismael Zambada García—known as El Mayo—who, during his guilty plea, said he had operated freely in Mexico thanks to years of bribery of politicians, police officers, and the military. A lawyer from the previous PRI government explained to this reporter that one of the biggest obstacles to ending drug trafficking in Mexico is having the biggest drug user as a neighbor.