What to know about US military strikes on alleged drug boats

President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington, as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, looks on. Jacquelyn Martin/AP hide caption

MEXICO CITY — The United States military strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats transiting in Latin America have killed more than 200 people since September, when the Trump administration began an operation it has justified as necessary to stem the flow of drugs.

As the strikes continue, the administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing "narco-terrorists" against whom U.S. President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in an "armed conflict."

Critics have questioned the overall legality of the strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind thousands of fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. overland from Mexico. The fast boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific are known to carry cocaine, not fentanyl.

Trump has asserted that the longtime U.S. strategy of interdicting the boats at sea for decades has not worked. Yet, the U.S. Coast Guard set a record in 2024, the final year of former U.S. President Joe Biden's term, for cocaine seizures, hauling 225 metric tons of the drug.

The strikes began in September off Venezuela's Caribbean coast and expanded to the Eastern Pacific in October. The deadliest month since the start of the operation was October, with 45 people killed. Most of this year's strikes have been in the Pacific.

Trump and other senior officials have also contended that such boats are being operated by narco-terrorists and cartel members.

The Associated Press visited a region in Venezuela from which some of the suspected boats have departed and identified four men who were killed in the strikes. In several interviews, residents of the region and relatives said the dead men were mostly laborers or fishermen making $500 a trip.