GLOBAL — A controversial United States military campaign targeting alleged narcotics trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific has killed at least 70 people since it began in early September 2025, according to official US statements. The latest strike, announced on Thursday, November 6, by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, destroyed a boat in the Caribbean and killed three individuals aboard. In a social media post accompanying video footage of the strike, Hegseth stated the vessel was “operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization” and warned, “if you keep trafficking deadly drugs – we will kill you.”

The Trump administration has framed the operations as a necessary escalation in its war on drugs, declaring a “non-international armed conflict” with cartels. This policy shift was preceded by a January 20, 2025, executive order that created a process to designate certain international cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). On February 20, 2025, the US State Department formally designated eight such groups, including Venezuela's Tren de Aragua, as FTOs. The administration argues this designation provides the legal authority to use lethal military force against traffickers, whom they label “unlawful combatants” and “narco-terrorists.” However, Washington has yet to release specific evidence linking the destroyed vessels to FTOs or proving they posed an imminent threat to the United States.

The campaign has drawn sharp condemnation from international bodies and legal experts. In late October 2025, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, declared the strikes “unacceptable” and a violation of international human rights law, calling for the US to “prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats.” Critics, including Republican Senator Rand Paul, have labeled the strikes “extrajudicial killings,” arguing they bypass due process and are not authorized by the US Congress. Legal scholars contend that existing maritime law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, provides for law enforcement actions like interception and seizure, not summary execution.

Implications for East Africa's War on Narcotics

While geographically distant, this aggressive US policy shift carries significant implications for Kenya, a critical hub in the global narcotics trade. For years, Kenya has served as a major transit point for heroin from Asia and, increasingly, cocaine from Latin America destined for Europe and other markets. The Port of Mombasa, in particular, has been identified as a key node in these trafficking networks. This new US doctrine of unilateral military force against alleged traffickers in international waters raises the critical question of whether a similar approach could one day be applied to the Indian Ocean, a vital maritime corridor for narcotics flowing to and from East Africa.

The policy also marks a stark departure from previous models of US-Kenya security cooperation. The 2017 extradition of Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha to the United States to face drug trafficking charges is a prime example of a partnership rooted in legal and law enforcement collaboration. That operation, conducted jointly by Kenyan authorities and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), relied on judicial processes, however lengthy. The current US strategy of pre-emptive lethal strikes circumvents such legal frameworks, presenting a potential challenge to national sovereignty that is a cornerstone of Kenyan foreign policy. This shift from partnership to unilateral action could reshape the future of international counter-narcotics efforts and strain diplomatic relations.

Furthermore, the debate over the legality and morality of these strikes resonates with Kenya's own long-standing domestic challenges concerning extrajudicial killings in security operations. The use of lethal force outside the bounds of the law is a sensitive and contentious issue within Kenya. The US government's open embrace of such a policy on an international stage provides a powerful and controversial global precedent that will be closely watched by human rights organizations and security sector analysts in Nairobi and across the region.

International reaction to the US campaign has been divided. Governments in the region, including Venezuela and Colombia, have condemned the strikes as violations of their sovereignty. Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the US of “murdering” its citizens, a charge the Trump administration has dismissed. The deployment of significant US naval assets, including the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, to the Caribbean has further heightened regional tensions. As the death toll continues to rise, the Trump administration's militarized approach to counter-narcotics signals a volatile new chapter in the global war on drugs, with far-reaching consequences for international law, national sovereignty, and the future of security partnerships worldwide.