Why won’t blowing up Venezuelan boats stop the flow of drugs?

The US military has killed at least 21 people in recent attacks on small boats it says were smuggling drugs off the coast of Venezuela.

President Trump justified the attacks by saying that the United States was in a critical situation “Armed conflict” With drug cartels and a pledge to “destroy Venezuelan terrorists and smuggling networks.”

But Trump’s focus on Venezuela belies reality: The vast majority of cocaine is produced and smuggled elsewhere in Latin America, according to data from the United States, Colombia and the United Nations. Experts say Venezuela does not supply fentanyl at all.

Here’s how these two drugs arrived in the United States.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Caribbean was the main route for smugglers moving cocaine into the United States. Now, most of that traffic moves across the Pacific Ocean.

However, the Caribbean remains a transit point. Some countries in the region say that in response to the increased US military presence on the waters, some have begun trafficking their products by air through the region.

But in recent years, senior US officials have rarely mentioned cocaine as a priority. Their focus was on fentanyl, the drug linked to the national overdose crisis.

Venezuela plays no role in the production or trafficking of fentanyl. Almost the entire drug Made in Mexico With chemicals imported from countries in Asia, including China, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice and Congressional Research Service.

Describing the boats destroyed by the US military off the coast of Venezuela, Trump said they were carrying enough drugs to kill tens of thousands of Americans. He did not specify what the medications were.

Source: US Drug Enforcement Administration

New York Times

Sometimes cocaine is mixed with fentanyl, but when that happens, experts say, it happens mainly after the two drugs reach the United States.

Mexican cartels, including some designated as terrorist organizations by the United States, largely control how drugs such as fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine cross the border. (Materials come mostly by road, sometimes Hidden in cars or trucks, not by sea.)

The Trump administration has pressed Mexico’s government to do more to prevent drugs from entering US territory, but former diplomats and regional analysts say that – despite US claims – the boat strikes off Venezuela appear to have a different goal.

Some suggest that it may instead have been aimed at putting pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, or ending his rule altogether. Trump officials have called him an illegitimate leader and accused him of running a cartel. He denies any involvement in drug smuggling.

Whatever the impact of the strikes in Venezuela, these experts say they are unlikely to change the flow of deadly drugs fueling the American crisis.

Even if the United States achieves limited success, human traffickers will regroup, said James Story, the US ambassador to Venezuela from 2018 to 2023.

Storey said using military force to eliminate small smuggling boats is like “using a blowtorch to cook an egg.”