A timeline of US attacks off South America and what Congress has had to say
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12:21 PM on Tuesday, October 21
By BEN FINLEY and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration says the U.S. military has killed at least 66 people in 16 known strikes against drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since early September.
President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. He has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
But as the number of strikes has grown, a debate in Congress has escalated over the limits of the president's power. The attacks have occurred without any legal investigation or a traditional declaration of war from Congress, and some lawmakers have raised questions about the lack of hard evidence to justify the killings.
Meanwhile, an unusual naval buildup off South America has stoked fears of invasion in Venezuela and speculation that Trump could try to topple President Nicolás Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S.
Here is a timeline of the U.S. military actions and the concerns among some lawmakers:
Trump signs an executive order on his first day back in the White House that paves the way for criminal organizations and drug cartels to be named “foreign terrorist organizations.” They include Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang.
The U.S. intelligence community has disputed Trump’s central claim that Maduro’s administration is working with Tren de Aragua and orchestrating drug trafficking and illegal immigration into the U.S.
The Trump administration formally designates eight Latin American crime organizations as foreign terrorist organizations.
The label is normally reserved for groups like al-Qaida or the Islamic State that use violence for political ends — not for profit-focused crime rings.
U.S. officials confirm the military deployed three Aegis guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela as part of Trump's effort to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels.
The naval force in the Caribbean grew within weeks to include three amphibious assault ships and two other U.S. Navy vessels, about 6,000 sailors and Marines in total. The amphibious assault ships have a variety of aircraft on board, and the U.S. deployed F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico in September.
A Navy submarine also is operating off South America and is capable of carrying and launching cruise missiles.
The U.S. carries out its first strike against what Trump says was a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela and was operated by Tren de Aragua.
Trump says 11 people were killed and posts a short video clip of a small vessel appearing to explode in flames.
In a letter to the White House, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and two dozen other Democratic senators say the Trump administration has provided “no legitimate legal justification” for the strike.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, says in a floor speech that week that the U.S. military is not “empowered to hunt down suspected criminals and kill them without trial.”
The U.S. military carries out its second strike against an alleged drug boat, killing three people.
Asked what proof the U.S. has that the vessel was carrying drugs, Trump told reporters: “We have proof. All you have to do is look at the cargo that was spattered all over the ocean — big bags of cocaine and and fentanyl all over the place.”
However, images of what Trump described were not released by the military or the White House.
Trump says the U.S. military carried out its third fatal strike against an alleged drug-smuggling vessel. The president says the attack killed three people and that intelligence “confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics.”
Several senators and human rights groups continue to question the legality of the strikes, describing them as a potential overreach of executive authority.
Trump declares drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the U.S. is now in an “armed conflict” with them, according to a Trump administration memo obtained by The Associated Press.
It appears to represent an extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers, with Trump effectively declaring that trafficking of drugs into the U.S. amounts to armed conflict requiring the use of military force.
The memo drew criticism from some lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he ordered a fourth strike on a small boat he accuses of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela. He says the strike killed four men but offers no details on who they were or what group they belonged to.
Trump says in his own social media post that the boat was “loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE” and implied it was “entering American Territory” while off the coast of Venezuela.
Senate Republicans vote down legislation that would have required the president to seek authorization from Congress before further military strikes on alleged cartels. The vote fell mostly along party lines, 48-51.
Trump announces the fifth strike against a small boat accused of carrying drugs, saying it killed six people. The president says “intelligence” confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, associated with “narcoterrorist networks” and on a known drug-trafficking route.
Trump confirms he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and says he was weighing carrying out land operations on the country.
The president says the administration “is looking at land” as it considers further strikes in the region. He declines to say whether the CIA has authority to take action against Maduro.
The Navy admiral who oversees military operations in the region says he will retire in December.
Adm. Alvin Holsey became leader of U.S. Southern Command only last November, overseeing an area that encompasses the Caribbean Sea and waters off South America. Such postings typically last between three and four years.
Trump says the U.S. struck a sixth suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean, killing two people and leaving two survivors who were on the semi-submersible craft.
The president later says the survivors would be sent to Ecuador and Colombia, their home countries, “for detention and prosecution.” Repatriation avoided questions about what their legal status would have been in the U.S. justice system.
The U.S. military attacks a seventh vessel that Hegseth says was carrying “substantial amounts of narcotics” and associated with a Colombian rebel group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN. Hegseth, who announces the strike on Oct. 19, says it killed all three “terrorists” on board.
Rep. Adam Smith, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, calls for a hearing on the boat strikes.
“Never before in my over 20 years on the committee can I recall seeing a combatant commander leave their post this early and amid such turmoil," Smith said in a statement of Holsey's impending departure. “I have also never seen such a staggering lack of transparency on behalf of an Administration and the Department to meaningfully inform Congress on the use of lethal military force.”
Hegseth says the U.S. military launched its eighth strike against an alleged drug-carrying vessel, killing two people in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The attack, announced on social media a day later, marks an expansion of the military’s targeting area and a shift to the waters off South America where much of the cocaine from the world’s largest producers is smuggled.
Hegseth announces the ninth strike, another in the eastern Pacific, saying three men were killed. Video he posts on social media shows a boat on the move, an explosion, then flames and smoke pouring out of the vessel. The footage cuts to what looks like several packages floating on the water.
Hegseth orders the U.S. military's most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the waters off South America. It's a significant escalation of military firepower in the region as the Trump administration intensifies strikes on vessels.
Hegseth says the military conducted the 10th strike on a suspected drug-running boat, leaving six people dead. He says the vessel was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang, which originated in a Venezuelan prison.
“If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda,” Hegseth said in a post on social media. “Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.”
Hegseth says three more strikes were carried out in the eastern Pacific that killed 14 people and left one survivor. Announced a day later, the military action targeting four vessels was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day and brought the total number of attacks to 13.
Hegseth said Mexican search and rescue authorities “assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue” of the sole survivor.
Hegseth says the U.S. military carried out another strike on a boat he said was carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing all four people aboard in the 14th attack.
In a social media post during a trip to Asia, he says intelligence determined the craft was “transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics.”
Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, says the Trump administration has briefed Republicans — but not Democrats — on the boat strikes.
The military briefing at the Capitol comes as the Senate is facing a potential vote on a war powers resolution that would prohibit strikes in or near Venezuela, unless Congress approves the military action.
U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk calls for an investigation into the strikes, in what appeared to mark the first such condemnation of its kind from a United Nations organization.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for Türk’s office, relayed his message at a briefing: "The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats.”
Hegseth posts another video as he announces the 15th known strike, saying the vessel in the Caribbean Sea was operated by a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. He does not name the group that was targeted and saiys three people were killed.
In the 16th known strike, Hegseth posts on social media that two people have been killed aboard a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The same day the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier leaves the Mediterranean Sea on its way to the Caribbean after Hegseth ordered it to the region more than a week earlier.
