Dec 21, 2025
3 min read
Both the governments of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela and Gustavo Petro in Colombia have declared the attacks to be genocide and genocide.
More than 30 boats sunk and nearly a hundred dead: Balance of US attacks in Caribbean and Pacific
Both the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and the government of Gustavo Petro in Colombia have condemned the attacks as murders and extrajudicial executions.
The United States sank more than thirty ships and lost at least one hundred lives in the Caribbean and Pacific, not including those missing.
President Donald Trump's administration, which considers Latin American drug cartels terrorist organizations and has declared "direct armed conflict" against them, is justifying deadly military operations by US forces in international waters.
In August, he ordered the deployment of warships to the Caribbean, focusing on Venezuela, before expanding his offensive to the Pacific, targeting Colombia and sea lanes near its coast.
Both the Governments of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and Gustavo Petro in Colombia - both accused by Trump of maintaining ties to drug trafficking - denounced these attacks as extrajudicial and extrajudicial killings.The United Nations warned that these would be violations of international law and asked the United States to end these actions.
The escalation coincides with increased scrutiny in the United States Congress over the legality of these operations, particularly after the September 2 attack that left two survivors dead, in what experts have called a possible crime.
Sequence of attacks:
September 2: The United States announces the first attack on a ship in the Caribbean, saying that eleven members of the Aragua train were on board as it left Venezuela with drugs destined for the United States. The U.S. government released video of the attack but provided no evidence of links to drug trafficking.
Ath 15 September Second Venezuela attacks, according to Trump, who claimed they went natural.
September 19: Trump reports a third attack on a ferry without disclosing the origin of the trip.The Dominican Republic later seized part of the drugs she was allegedly carrying.Three people died.
October 3: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announces a fourth attack in the Caribbean, killing four crew members.
October 14: The United States reports a fifth attack near the coast of Venezuela, killing six.
October 16: The United States attacks an artisanal submarine.Two of the four crew members die and two survive the explosion.The survivors, of Ecuadorian and Colombian nationality, are transferred to their countries without judicial process, even though they are drug traffickers.
October 19: The United States reports that the seventh boat belonging to the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Colombia was sunk two days ago.Three people died.
October 21: Eighth attack, first in Pacific waters off Colombia.Two people died.
October 22: Hegseth reports a ninth attack in the Pacific, killing three.
October 24: The tenth attack on a boat, according to Washington, from Tren de Aragua.Six people died in international Caribbean waters.
October 28: The series has been eating until it's time: nineteen died after four canvory in the camp.
October 29: A new attack in the Pacific Ocean kills four.
November 1: Hegseth announces a new "deadly attack" in the Caribbean, killing three crew members.
November 4: The United States sank a boat in the eastern Pacific, killing two.
November 6: Washington reports an attack on a boat in the Caribbean that left three dead.
November 9: The US claims that a day earlier two boats were sunk in two operations in the Pacific, killing six.
November 14: The Secretary of War introduces Operation Southern Spear, a U.S. crackdown on drug trafficking from Latin America.
November 15: The United States destroys another ship in the Pacific Ocean; three people die in the attack.
December 4: The US military released video of a new attack on a boat in the eastern Pacific that left four dead.
December 17: The United States destroys a new ship in the eastern Pacific, killing four
December 19: The United States announced two more "deadly dynamic" attacks on boats in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing five people - three on one boat and two on another.
