Why US strikes on suspected drug boats put Canada ‘between a rock and a hard place’

Canada’s Department of National Defense said it will continue a long-running operation with the U.S. Coast Guard to catch drug traffickers in the Caribbean, despite a series of deadly U.S. airstrikes in the region.

Operation Caribbean – ongoing since 2006 – sees the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force partner with the US Coast Guard to find and stop suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, and transfer any detainees to the US to face prosecution.

The US Air Force took a very different approach in recent weeks, bombing four boats suspected of carrying drugs, killing 21 people.

Canadian officials are now distancing themselves from those attacks, saying they have no connection to the Canadian military or Canadian intelligence personnel in the region.

“It is important to note that the activities of the Canadian Armed Forces under Operation Caribe, which are conducted in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard, are separate and distinct from the activities you describe that involve other branches of the U.S. military,” said a statement from Department of National Defense spokeswoman Cheryl Forrest.

Operation Caribe is Canada’s contribution to a broader multinational mission called the Martello Campaign, which includes 14 countries from the Americas to Europe.

Tim Addison, director of maritime affairs at the Maritime Association of Canada (NAC), said he understands the distinction the department is trying to make, but that’s not enough to ease his concerns about the strikes and where the United States could go from here.

some Scholars have questioned its legitimacy of strikes, while Human Rights Watch She described them as “extrajudicial killings.”

“Was it illegal?” Addison said in an interview with CBC News on Wednesday. “Should Canada continue to contribute to Operation Caribe if, in fact, it appears to be on the path to illegal operations?”

NAC is a national group of retired and active Navy personnel, advocating for a stronger Navy. While the group doesn’t usually care about current operations, Addison said this was a “bigger problem.”

He added: “This includes the law of armed conflict and the rules for waging war between two states.”

Addison – who spent 34 years as a naval officer before serving on the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Ottawa – said the Canadian government should seek answers from the United States on a long list of questions relating to the intelligence and rationale behind the strikes.

“Canada needs to understand that reason and then make a judgment on whether they think they should continue with Operation Karibi, or perhaps make a statement about their position on these activities.”

These strikes come at a critical time between Canada and the United States, as the two countries negotiate a new trade agreement.

This left the Royal Canadian Navy “between a rock and a hard place” in the Caribbean, Addison said.

Professor says: Canada should avoid Venezuela

Eric Ouellet, a professor of defense studies at the Canadian Forces College and the Royal Military College of Canada, agrees that the strikes have put Canada in an awkward position.

But he believes they can handle this mission without halting all future deployments to the Caribbean.

Ouellet said there are concerns that Canadian employees are collecting intelligence that could end up being used in deadly attacks against suspected traffickers without due process.

He said those concerns could be alleviated if Canada stayed as far away from Venezuela as possible.

“I think it’s concerning in terms of double-checking that they’re not sending intelligence that could be used in an operation that could be illegal,” Ouellet said.

“But fears should be relatively allayed by the fact that there are many drug trafficking activities in the Caribbean and the Venezuelans (are) only part of it.”

Ouellet said Canadian assets are well-equipped to combat other issues in the region, such as arms smuggling around Haiti.

Canada has sent two ships to the Caribbean this year, the latest of which — HMCS William Hall — returned home in early July.

Ouellet believes ending Operation Caribe now would be a loss for Canada and the United States.

“There are different ways we can envision to get away from the complexities of dealing with Venezuelan ships,” he said. “There are ways to make it work.”

Detained low-level cartel members

Trump, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, said the attacks targeted specific terrorist organizations — “drug traffickers” from groups like Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua cartel.

The United States has blamed Venezuela — especially its president, Nicolas Maduro — for the flow of drugs in recent years. These strikes are the latest escalation in tensions between the two countries.

CBC News was included in Operation Caribbe in February 2024, where the HMCS Margaret Brooke patrolled an area near the Dominican Republic and served as floating platforms for US law enforcement officers who have jurisdiction to detain suspected traffickers in the Caribbean Sea.

Admiral Mark Fedor, of the US Coast Guard, was in charge of the whole operation at the time, and told CBC News that the people they were arresting were usually low-ranking foot soldiers in the gangs that controlled the cocaine industry.

Aside from securing prosecutions, they were also looking to obtain information from suspects about the inner workings of their organizations.

“We’re not just worried about the El Chapo of the world,” Fedor said. “They’re in charge of the logistics, they’re the financiers. They’re the people who make the network work.”

Operation Caribbe has seized 123 metric tons of cocaine since 2006.