Is America Suddenly at War With Venezuela?

U.S. strikes on alleged drug smugglers raise unprecedented legal and geopolitical questions.

Over the last two weeks, the United States has at least twice bombed boats in the Caribbean that the White House claims were smuggling drugs to the United States, killing an unknown number of people on board. This is extraordinary. Under normal circumstances, the United States Navy or Coast Guard would interdict alleged drug smugglers and turn them over to law enforcement for prosecution. But the Trump administration is apparently unleashing the full weight of the U.S. military against people it deems to be smuggling drugs. What’s more concerning, according to legal experts across the spectrum, is that these targeted killings do not seem to be operating under any apparent legal framework.

The administration is using the language of the War on Terror to justify these killings, but there has been no authorization for the use of military force against drug smugglers. Nor has the administration put forward a legal rationale for these strikes. And all this comes amidst an unprecedented American naval buildup in the Caribbean — a show of force against the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

“It’s truly extraordinary for the U.S. government to be conducting premeditated killing of individuals merely for suspected drug smuggling,” says my interview guest Brian Finucane, senior advisor at the International Crisis Group.

Our full conversation is available immediately below the fold for paying subscribers. We begin by discussing what is known about these two strikes, before turning to a longer conversation about the implications of using the language and tools of counterterrorism to kill alleged drug smugglers absent any clear legal constraint.

These strikes aren’t just about drugs — they may be rewriting the rules of war. And when alleged drug smugglers are treated like terrorists, the line between law enforcement and war disappears.

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