U.S. Strikes Suspected Drug-Smuggling Boat, Killing Three
On Monday morning, U.S. forces struck and destroyed a drifting suspected drug boat in the Caribbean, killing three. It was the second strike in a week, following an attack Friday that killed three additional suspects, and was the eighth declared strike since the beginning of the month.
The death toll from U.S. Southern Command's kinetic countertrafficking campaign is now at least 137, and possibly as high as 148.
In parallel with the airstrikes on drug boats - led by special operations units of the U.S. Air Force - the U.S. Coast Guard has been setting records for nonlethal law enforcement interdictions. On February 13, the medium-endurance cutter USCGC Seneca delivered about eight tonnes of cocaine to a pier in Port Everglades. The consignment would be worth approximately $120 million on the benchmark European market, where prices have recently been in decline.
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To further its antinarcotics operation, U.S. Southern Command is now cooperating with Venezuela's recently-revised leadership team, according to Venezuelan outlet VTV. With former dictator Nicolas Maduro in U.S. custody in New York, his former subordinates have taken charge of day to day government operations in anticipation of a future transition to democracy. Maduro's defense minister, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, and interior minister, Diosdado Cabello Rondon, remain in their cabinet posts despite longstanding U.S. Justice Department allegations that they have assisted drug traffickers. Both men met last week with U.S. Southern Command's top officer, Gen. Francis L. Donovan, according to Venezuelan media. Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez's press office confirmed the meeting, which was held for the purpose of "developing a bilateral cooperation agenda to combat illicit drug trafficking in our region, terrorism, and migration." Also present was Joseph Humire, U.S. acting assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, according to Rodrigeuz's office.
The two Venezuelan cabinet members are among the most senior alleged leaders of the so-called Cartel de los Soles, the military-led drug-smuggling network that was declared a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration last year. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency currently offers a reward of $15 million for information leading to Vladimir Padrino Lopez's capture. In 2020, he was indicted on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine by coordinating air shipments of the drug between Venezuela and Central America, allegedly charging cartels a protection fee of up to $60,000 per flight in exchange for safe passage. Diosdado Cabello Rondon was indicted the same year on similar allegations, with the addition of weapons-trafficking charges related to the provision of guns and explosives to communist insurgents in Colombia. The reward for Cabello Rondon's capture is $25 million.