President of the United States Donald Trump (Reuters)

According to U.S. media reports, a notable shift emerged in President Donald Trump's second term in the fall of 2025, reminiscent of Washington's historical interventions in South America.

In just a few weeks, the U.S. military launched a series of air strikes against "drug trafficking vessels" in the Caribbean and Pacific regions, resulting in dozens of deaths.

Washington described these actions as a "preemptive war against 'death dealers'," with Trump claiming that these individuals cause over 25,000 American deaths annually.

Trump's drug war has drawn attention from the magazine Foreign Policy and The New York Times, which published analytical articles. The first article was written by Professor John Haltiwanger, an economist at the University of Maryland, while the second article was authored by Jamil Jaffer, Executive Director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, focusing on freedom of expression.

Overthrowing the Maduro Regime

In his analysis, Haltiwanger pointed out that these actions, which were not authorized by Congress or notified to allies, violated Trump's campaign promise of "not starting new wars."

He suggested that the real purpose may not be limited to fighting drugs but could be related to the long-standing desire of the president and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio to overthrow the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Washington considers the socialist government in Caracas as the source of instability in the region and a symbol of the challenge to American influence in the Western Hemisphere.

Haltiwanger added that the naval strikes occurred at a politically sensitive time, as the Trump administration faced domestic criticism over its economic performance and corruption issues, making this action "likely an attempt to divert attention and demonstrate foreign toughness," even at the cost of undisclosed military escalation.

However, the author believes that this action has sparked fierce debate in Washington. Senate Democrats failed by a narrow margin to pass a resolution under the War Powers Act to stop the action, while human rights organizations, including a UN investigation team, described the attacks as extrajudicial executions.

This action has sparked fierce debate in Washington, with Senate Democrats failing by a narrow margin to pass a resolution under the War Powers Act to stop the action.

Legal Cover

The journalist continued to analyze that Trump defends his actions based on Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which grants the president the power to protect national security, explaining that the drug cartels in Latin America (designated as terrorist organizations by his government) pose a threat to the nation.

But Haltiwanger pointed out that Congress has not declared war on these groups, and international law does not recognize drug trafficking as an armed attack justifying the use of lethal force.

According to the author, Venezuela is not the main source of fentanyl causing American deaths, and the air strikes in the Caribbean have no strategic value in the context of the war on drugs.

The economics professor pointed out in his analysis that destroying ships from the air instead of intercepting them as usual leads to the complete destruction of evidence, increasing suspicion that this action serves geopolitical goals rather than legal ones.

In his article, he cited the comments of Wanda F. Brown from the Brookings Institution, stating that this "legal vacuum" may pave the way for expanding the use of military force under the guise of the war on drugs, potentially even extending to within the United States.

Professor Kenneth Roberts from Cornell University also believes that Trump has merged the logic of the war on terror into the war on drugs by conflating terrorism and drugs, granting himself near absolute power that surpasses congressional and judicial oversight.

Shadows of Old Interventions

Haltiwanger further analyzed Trump's actions from a broader geopolitical perspective, recalling the history of U.S. interventions in Latin America under various pretexts, such as fighting terrorism or drugs, and pointing out that the president's rhetoric and style are reviving the Monroe Doctrine, which views the Western Hemisphere as America's exclusive sphere of influence.

Haltiwanger believes that this entrenched Cold War mindset could escalate tensions with countries in the region and open the door for the influence of competitors like China, which is strengthening its economic and diplomatic presence in the region.

He claims that the consequences of this view have already begun to manifest, mentioning an incident last September where a Colombian fisherman died in a crackdown, triggering a diplomatic crisis because Trump responded by calling Colombian President Gustavo Petro a "lawless drug lord."

The author estimates that such incidents will undermine traditional alliances and shake America's image as a defender of international law.

Destroying ships from the air instead of intercepting them as usual leads to the complete destruction of evidence, increasing suspicion that this action serves geopolitical goals rather than legal ones.

Secrecy of Legal Memorandums

Jamil Jaffer, a human rights lawyer, explored the legal aspects of Trump's drug war in his analytical article in The New York Times, revealing that the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice issued a secret legal opinion considering the strike on drug trafficking vessels as legal, but the content of the opinion was not disclosed to the public.

Jaffer believes that this secrecy recreates the atmosphere after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, when the White House used similar memorandums to legally justify torture, surveillance, and targeted killings under the pretext of national security.

The author recalls that it was this office that provided legal cover for George W. Bush's administration to implement the torture program in CIA prisons and also approved Barack Obama's administration to kill American citizens suspected of ties to terrorism without trial.

The New York Times article stated that these memorandums were eventually made public after a long legal battle, only to discover that they were based on extreme interpretations of the law and the Constitution.

Key Test

Jaffer emphasized that the real danger lies not in the military action itself, but in the concentration of executive power in the hands of the president under the guise of national security. The Trump administration is conducting lethal actions without transparency, oversight, or evidence, exceeding constitutional limits designed to ensure checks and balances.

He called on U.S. courts to immediately compel the Department of Justice to disclose this legal memorandum, so that it does not become a historical relic, but a tool for accountability.

He said that this continuous pattern of secrecy "corrupts American democracy," making the executive branch an entity above the law.

Haltiwanger and Jaffer both concluded that what is happening represents a dangerous intersection between military force and legal secrecy. Whether targeting drug traffickers or the Maduro regime, this naval operation reflects an unsettling shift in American policy: a war without a declaration, justice without trial, and a law tailored to empower rather than limit power.

Researcher Wanda F. Brown from the Brookings Institution warned that such actions will not reduce drug smuggling, but instead reshape the definition of war itself, turning maritime space into a stage for political conflicts draped in moral garb.

Sources: Foreign Policy + New York Times

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7565066408753775139/

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