US military strikes on drug boats fail to curb cocaine flow to United States

Internal evaluations by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and a Pentagon report to Congress concluded that Operation Lanza del Sur, launched in September 2025 under President Donald Trump, has not reduced the flow of cocaine to the United States. The campaign involved at least 67 attacks on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing roughly 221 people, yet the availability and price of cocaine in the U.S. remained largely unchanged.

Traffickers responded by abandoning fast‑speed boats in international waters, shifting to larger commercial vessels that hug coastal routes, and increasing the use of aircraft from clandestine airstrips on the Colombia‑Venezuela border through Guyana and Suriname. A DEA official quoted the report saying, “When you squeeze a balloon on one side, it expands on the other. They always find the weak points and exploit them.” The Pentagon maintains the operation is achieving its stated goal of “detect, disrupt and dismantle” transnational cartels, while the DEA says the strikes have not curbed the drug supply.

The operation also sought to apply pressure on former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, who was later arrested and transferred to a U.S. detention center. Despite the high casualty toll and continued adaptation by traffickers, the drug market’s purity and pricing have shown little impact from the U.S. strikes.