Trump reveals that the United States has attacked a third "narcotics" company.

WashingtonStanding at the foot of the presidential helicopter, Marine One, Donald Trump casually stated this Tuesday that the military attacked a third alleged "narco-ship." The US president revealed this while responding to a reporter's question about what message he wanted to send to Venezuela with the second sinking of a suspected narco-ship yesterday, in which three men died. "Stop sending drugs to the United States," he responded, and immediately followed up with: "We actually shot down three ships, not two. But you only saw two." Trump's revelation, which did not provide details about the circumstances of the attack, raises even more questions about how the US military is operating and whether it has been sinking more ships in international waters in the Caribbean than the government has actually revealed.

For this third announcement, Trump did not even bother to offer any kind of justification or to report whether there were any deaths. It was a comment he made, coincidentally, before embarking on his trip to the United Kingdom for his state visit. This Tuesday marks exactly two weeks since the first military action against a vessel that killed 11 people, and the Pentagon has yet to cite what legal protection it acted under. But that didn't stop Trump from announcing yesterday that, on his orders, a second alleged narco-boat was shot down, killing three suspected drug traffickers.

Trump made this public on Monday in a post on Truth Social in which he claimed that the attack had occurred in international waters in the Caribbean and that the vessel was departing from Venezuela. "The attack occurred while these confirmed narco-terrorists from Venezuela were in international waters transporting illegal narcotics (a deadly weapon that poisons Americans!) bound for the US," he wrote on Truth Social, where he also shared the video.

The only legal framework Trump has cited so far to justify his attacks is the executive order he signed in January designating several cartels, including Venezuela's El Tren de Aragua and El Cártel de los Soles, as terrorist organizations. The president has also only cited internal evidence to show that the ships in question were actually carrying drugs and that their crews were drug traffickers. "We have proof. Just look at the cargo. It was spread across the ocean: cocaine and fentanyl were everywhere. We have it all recorded in great detail because we knew you [journalists] would come after us. We're very careful with the military," he said Monday in justification.

The bombings follow the same pattern as the September 2nd bombing, which, according to international law expert Mary Ellen O'Connell, is "illegal." "There is no legal right to use force, let alone a missile attack against people suspected of crimes," explained in statements to ARA. Similarly, he emphasized that the term narcoterrorist There is no international law.

The military attacks on the alleged drug boats only escalate tensions with Venezuela, which is preparing for a possible military intervention. The Trump administration is relaunching a war on drugs that is very reminiscent of the actions carried out in the early 2000s against Al Qaeda in Bush's war on terror.

Although the president claims to want to cut off drug trafficking to the US, the reality is that this new crusade is a covert way of pressuring Latin American governments. The threat of a military incursion not only looms over the Maduro regime—which is the current focus of the attacks—but is also a clear hint at Mexico and Colombia. Washington wants to use it both for political gain and to pressure governments that are not on its side.

Colombia, New Target

Coincidentally, the first military strike against the alleged narco-lanchas took place the day before Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Mexico to sign a new security cooperation agreement with the government of Claudia Sheinbaum. The Mexican president has been navigating Trump's erratic demands for months, seeking a tougher approach against drug trafficking and migration arriving through the southern border. Now, these second and third attacks against two more vessels coincided with Colombia's inclusion on the list of countries that "fail to cooperate in the fight against drug trafficking." Still, for now, it has not cut off the aid.

On Monday, the Trump administration said that cocaine production in Colombia had increased to historic levels under the government of leftist President Gustavo Petro. The Colombian leader has been one of the most critical voices among Latin American leaders in condemning the attacks on the alleged narco-lanchas.

This Tuesday, Rubio added pressure and placed the blame squarely on Petro: "Unfortunately, now [Colombians] have a president who, in addition to being erratic, has not been a good partner in the fight against drug cartels. So, under his leadership, they simply do not meet the standards." Rubio said that Colombia still has time to change and meet the criteria necessary to be removed from the list. The head of diplomacy has not said exactly what Bogotá should do to achieve the milestone.

Petro's response was immediate. After initially denying that cocaine production had increased in Colombia, he accused the US of "being in the hands of friends of politicians allied with paramilitaries" and said that the main cause of drug trafficking in the country was consumption by Americans themselves. "I will not bring the nation to its knees nor will I allow farmers to be beaten. We are not sepoys, nor subjects," he wrote in X.