Exclusive: Top US commander makes surprise visit to Venezuela for security talks  Reuters

US Military Blows Up 3 Alleged Drug Boats, Killing 11, After Lull Since January The Pentagon's whole anti-narco boat operations fell relatively silent for the past more than a month in the wake of the January 3rd US military raid on Venezuela to overthrow the Maduro government. Surely there was still drug trafficking off Latin America, but with 'mission accomplished' in Caracas the public PR 'anti-drug' pretext was no longer needed, apparently. But suddenly, this week, the US military has begun its strikes on alleged drug boats again, with US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) on Tuesday having announced its forces launched drone assaults on three alleged drug smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean on Monday. In total eleven people were killed in the renewed operation. "Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations," SOUTHCOM said Tuesday in a post to X. Illustrative narco-boats file, via X. The military statements said the three boats were allegedly "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations." The post further referred to those killed as "male narco-terrorists," detailing that eight were killed on two boats in the eastern Pacific - or the Western side of Latin America - and three were killed on a boat in the Caribbean. No American forces were harmed, the post said, in the assault conducted at the direction of Marine Corps Gen. Francis Donovan, who serves as the commander of Southern Command. War (Defense) Secretary Pete Hegseth celebrated the fresh strikes in a post on X, writing, "Turns out President’s Day — under President Trump — is not a good day to run drugs." For all the momentary celebrations at the Pentagon, the supposed 'war on drugs' will be circular and never-ending, as it's been over the past many decades, spanning presidencies. But this is really about American influence and 'ownership' of the region and total dominance of the Western hemisphere. From Vietnam to Iraq to Libya to Syria to Iran, Washington is always looking for some kind of casus belli - even if it has to be manufactured - to sell war to the American people.  Turns out President’s Day — under President Trump — is not a good day to run drugs. https://t.co/8c5wMmQbQ2 February 17, 2026 Going back several years, the single biggest sources of the world's fentanyl trade have been consistently identified as China and Mexico. At this point it's impossible to know, and hasn't been disclosed, whether any of the well over 25 boats blown up by US military action off Latin America since September were actually loaded with fentanyl, or in what quantities.  Tyler Durden Tue, 02/17/2026 - 19:40