American military's Caribbean lies

America’s secret civilian killings echo one of its darkest chapters
The U.S. never reckoned with torture. Now it's killing civilians at sea

By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published June 4, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) The United States passed a grim milestone in the past few days: The Trump administration has killed the 200th civilian in its military strikes against small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. U.S. Southern Command marked the occasion by releasing footage of the strike in color for the first time. As the nation prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our founding, we would pause to consider that what was once a scrappy little collection of colonies fighting against a mighty empire in a quest for self determination has become a mighty empire itself, asserting its dominance over the Western hemisphere by picking off small speed boats in two oceans and blowing them to bits with massive military force. What a triumph for the cause of human freedom promised in the Declaration of Independence.

This military action has been ongoing since September with very little serious explanation or oversight, and originally appeared to be a precursor to the administration’s January operation in Venezuela, which deposed the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and brought him to New York to stand trial. At the time, the thinking was that the presence of the military in the area and the violent action against these boats in a seemingly random manner would put pressure on Maduro to resign to allow the U.S. to install a regime more amenable to its ambitions in the region. But if anyone thought the boat strikes would end once Maduro was out of office they were quickly set straight. They have carried on unabated, even as the story has faded from the media’s attention — and the public’s consciousness — what with Donald Trump’s war of choice in Iran and all the other crises he is precipitating.

According to Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other administration officials, the ostensible cause of action against the boats is to stop the flow of drugs, especially fentanyl, into the U.S. — the assumption being that the boats’s crews and passengers are drug runners carrying the lethal drugs to America’s shores. But everyone knew that fentanyl was not made or distributed in the region, and that cocaine — which is — was not trafficked to the U.S. on boats in the Caribbean. If those vessels are carrying drugs, they are destined for Europe.

As it turns out, these aren’t the only lies being told about this operation, which leads to the question of why exactly the strikes are taking place at all. In their announcement of the 200th strike, the military posted on X, “SOUTHCOM is unwavering in its commitment to applying total systemic friction on the cartels.” But it appears that “systemic friction” — whatever that is — isn’t exactly having any effect. According to the New York Times, experts from epidemiologists to addiction specialists and law enforcement agree that cocaine is as easy to obtain as it ever was. The drug, which is produced in South America for American consumption, is not trafficked here in small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/06/04/americas-secret-civilian-killings-echo-one-of-its-darkest-chapters/