STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have some idea of the force the United States is massing in or near the Caribbean Sea. We do not have a clear idea of what the U.S. plans to do with it.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The world's largest aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, is now in the area covered by the U.S. Southern Command. Now, that's the part of the world that includes Venezuela. In recent weeks, U.S. forces already in the region have opened fire on small boats, killing at least 76 people. And the U.S. is saying that they were smuggling drugs, though any evidence of that is really at the bottom of the sea.
INSKEEP: Does the United States have some larger plan? Quil Lawrence from NPR's national security team is going to work through the evidence for us. Quil, good morning.
QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: What does an aircraft carrier have to do with stopping drugs?
LAWRENCE: This isn't how the U.S. has ever fought against narcotrafficking in the past - just blowing boats out of the water, then with the secretary of defense sharing a grainy video on social media about it, declaring them terrorists and enemy combatants. We're going to have to see whether this has a deterrent effect on these many small boats carrying relatively small amounts of drugs.
INSKEEP: We think.
LAWRENCE: Yeah, facts reported by our colleagues, first of all, that overdose deaths in the U.S. have dropped significantly last year from a high several years back. The drug that has been killing these Americans is fentanyl, which mostly crosses in from Mexico by land. The boats that the U.S. is destroying off Venezuela - and as you said, the evidence, you know, we don't have it. But if they were carrying drugs, former officials I've spoken with say that those routes from Venezuela mostly carry cocaine for Europe, not the U.S. I was recently at a discussion with a former leader of U.S. Southern Command, Admiral James Stavridis, and he was very blunt. This is not about drugs. He said it's about intimidating Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
INSKEEP: Oh, that's very interesting. Well, then, what is an aircraft carrier going to do about Nicolas Maduro?
LAWRENCE: It's just another asset in what's now an armada in the Caribbean, maybe 15,000 U.S. troops. The U.S. has posted this $50 million bounty on Maduro. U.S. bombers have flown over. President Trump has talked openly about attacks on land in Venezuela and mentioned possible CIA operations in that country. There's speculation that this could be just a push to get someone in Venezuela to come out and claim that $50 million. There's speculation of - about a full-scale invasion or direct strikes against Maduro. We don't know. Congress doesn't really know either. The briefings have been very scant. Last week, a measure to require the Trump administration to get a legal declaration of war failed in the Senate, although a couple of Republicans did join in pushing for some sort of law.
INSKEEP: Well, let's think about that for a second. In recent decades, it has not been that common for administrations to go to Congress in a formal way before acting. But sometimes they have tried to build some international support, make a case for intervention, to line up allies. Is the U.S. doing any of that?
LAWRENCE: No. This administration has really made no effort to win over the world or the region. And these killings have strained relations with what has been America's strongest ally in counternarcotics in the region, the Colombian military, which the U.S. has been building and training for decades. These killings of citizens from countries in the region might also put U.S. troops in legal jeopardy. Some international jurists say that the U.S. military actions here are illegal, and there could be warrants out for the arrest of some of these officers who ordered the strikes.
A U.S. four-star admiral, Alvin Holsey, who was overseeing these strikes, abruptly resigned last month - two years early. And congressional Pentagon sources say they believe it's because he objected to these strikes on these alleged drug boats that - and this is crucial for the laws of armed conflict. The people on these boats were showing no hostile intent. They maybe weren't even armed when the U.S. military killed them.
INSKEEP: Well, we'll keep listening for your report, and Quil, thanks so much.
LAWRENCE: Thank you.
INSKEEP: That's Quil Lawrence of NPR's national security team.
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