White House Claims 65% Caribbean Trafficking Drop After Trump's First Direct Military Campaign on Cartels
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 2
White House Claims 65% Caribbean Trafficking Drop After Trump's First Direct Military Campaign on Cartels
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 2
Summary
Senior administration officials said Trump's use of direct military force against cartels produced the steepest decline in U.S. casualties attributed to cartels in American history.
A White House call tied that claim to SOUTHCOM operations, including a lethal strike on a go-fast boat, and said the campaign was the first plan to use direct military force against the cartel threat.
U.S. Southern Command's counter-narcotics push has cut illicit maritime activity by 65% in the western Caribbean, 60% in the eastern Caribbean and nearly 50% in key Eastern Pacific regions, officials said.
Officials argued the strikes also opened political space for closer regional cooperation, citing Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador as governments treating cartels as a military threat.
The campaign has involved dozens of deadly attacks on suspected traffickers and remains controversial even as the administration says it has deterred other adversaries by showing a willingness to use lethal force.
If hundreds of lethal strikes haven't disrupted street drug prices, what is the true endgame of this unprecedented maritime military campaign?
With drug prices stable and fentanyl crossing land borders, are lethal maritime strikes actually dismantling cartels or just shifting their routes?
As key allies restrict intelligence sharing over human rights concerns, could this militarized anti-cartel strategy ultimately blind U.S. enforcement efforts?