Pressure on Venezuela: Is Deployment of U.S. Military in ‘War on Drugs’ Appropriate?

Editorial

14:59 JST, November 25, 2025

The United States is escalating its military pressure on the South American nation of Venezuela.

It is impossible not to be concerned about the heavy-handed measures being employed, which include sudden attacks on ships deemed to belong to drug trafficking organizations, killing people on board, and even dispatching an aircraft carrier.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has deployed forces to the Caribbean Sea and repeatedly carried out airstrikes since September against vessels it believes are smuggling drugs into the United States from Venezuela and other countries. There have been more than 20 attacks, resulting in the deaths of over 80 people on board.

The flow of drugs from Latin America, including Venezuela, has become a social problem in the United States. Trump claims Venezuela has “done tremendous damage to our country,” asserting that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is involved in drug smuggling.

Maduro is the spearhead of anti-American left-wing forces in Latin America. The United States does not recognize the legitimacy of the Maduro administration.

There is strong speculation in the international community that Trump is using the war on drugs as a pretext to use military force to force Maduro out of power and set up a pro-U.S. government. Some also say that Trump is seeking concessions over Venezuela’s crude oil, which are said to be the largest reserves in the world.

A carrier strike group led by the USS Gerald R. Ford, a cutting-edge nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, arrived in the Caribbean Sea this month. A nuclear submarine has also been deployed, and state-of-the-art F-35 stealth jets have been stationed in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

About 15,000 military personnel are now amassed in the region. This scale is disproportionate to a drug enforcement operation. Trump has hinted at the possibility of launching a ground offensive. Caution must be exercised regarding the use of force that could destabilize the situation in Latin America.

Furthermore, the Trump administration has not publicly presented evidence that the ships attacked by the U.S. military were drug-smuggling vessels. It is highly unorthodox to deploy the military to attack vessels without following standard procedures, such as the U.S. Coast Guard stopping suspicious vessels, detaining the crew and seizing any drugs.

The Trump administration believes the country is in a state of “armed conflict” with drug trafficking organizations, asserting that smuggling constitutes “the use of force against the United States.” It takes the position that killing enemy combatants is permitted during conflict under international law, and the administration maintains that killing those on board was therefore justified.

However, criticism has emerged both within and outside the United States that the legal basis is unclear. The French foreign minister has criticized the U.S. moves as a violation of international law, and the United Kingdom is believed to have stopped providing the United States with information on smuggling vessels.

Faced with U.S. military pressure, the Maduro administration appears to have sought support from Russia and China. A new confrontation between the United States and Russia and China, with Latin America as a stage, must be avoided.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 25, 2025)