In boat strike, Trump repurposes ‘war on terror’ for Latin American crime

In the days pursuing its deadly onslaught connected a vessel allegedly transporting Venezuelan cause smugglers done planetary waters, the medication of US President Donald Trump sent a unified message: The United States volition not hesitate to onslaught alleged “narco terrorists”.

“Instead of interdicting [the vessel], connected the president’s orders, we blew it up,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.

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“And it’ll hap again. Maybe it’s happening close now,” helium said.

Analysts accidental this caller strategy represents a large escalation successful however the US approaches Latin American transgression organisations, 1 that relies connected the nationalist signalling and dubious ineligible practices that undergirded US attacks crossed the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia arsenic portion of the alleged “Global War connected Terror“.

With small denotation that the Republican-dominated US Congress volition beryllium consenting to cheque Trump’s approach, observers pass that Tuesday’s “kinetic strike” that killed 11 alleged members of Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua pack could unfastened a caller signifier and theatre for extrajudicial subject killings.

“They are repurposing the ‘war connected terror’ for wholly caller sets of expected enemies successful a mode that is radically inappropriate,” Brian Finucane, a elder advisor for the US programme astatine the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera.

“Now the expected terrorists are successful our ain backyard successful the Caribbean, and present they accidental they’re cause smugglers.”

‘Performative and gratuitous’

The nationalist messaging run stretches backmost to Trump’s archetypal term, erstwhile helium pondered bombing cause labs successful Mexico, a pugilistic attack to Latin American cartels embraced by immoderate segments of the Republican Party.

Shortly aft Trump took bureau successful January, his medication moved to formalise its rhetoric, designating respective Latin America-based cartels arsenic “foreign violent organisations”. The statement increases penalties for collaborators and ineligible mechanisms to authorisation and boost surveillance for designated groups, but does not connected its ain spend greater statesmanlike powerfulness to instrumentality unilateral subject action.

Finucane saw Tuesday’s onslaught arsenic the latest thrust successful a run to displacement nationalist cognition of Latin American transgression gangs from profit-driven transgression entities to coordinated overseas actors seeking to destabilise the US.

It is simply a connection that dovetails with Trump’s portrayal of migrants travelling to the US arsenic convulsive criminals, which has further underpinned his home deployment of national agents crossed the country.

Finucane described the US onslaught arsenic “performative and gratuitous usage of subject power”.

“For decades, the US Navy and Coast Guard worked unneurotic connected interdicting vessels, stopping them astatine sea, taking the purported smugglers into custody and prosecuting them done instrumentality enforcement channels,” helium said.

“There is nary denotation of wherefore that wasn’t imaginable here. So the blowing up of this vas was wholly unnecessary. It was besides virtually performed successful the consciousness that Trump posted connected Truth Social a video of the attack, fundamentally a snuff film.”

‘Blow them up’

For its part, the US medication has offered fewer details connected wherefore the subject utilized deadly force, beyond blatantly pointing to the connection it sends to cause smugglers.

Speaking connected Fox News connected Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Tren de Aragua was seeking to “poison” the US with drugs.

“It won’t halt with conscionable this strike. Anyone other trafficking successful those waters who we cognize is simply a designated narco-terrorist volition look the aforesaid fate,” Hegseth said.

He maintained that the Trump medication was definite of the identities of those connected committee the attacked vessel, without providing further details of the strike.

Rubio, speaking during his sojourn to Mexico, said simply that stopping and arresting cause smugglers – known arsenic interdiction – had proven ineffective. He said the targeted smuggling vessel was heading to Trinidad and Tobago, with the drugs apt bound for the US.

“What volition halt them is erstwhile you stroke them up, erstwhile you get escaped of them,” Rubio said.

Trump, speaking from the White House connected Wednesday, said determination were “massive amounts of drugs coming into our state to termination a batch of people, and everybody afloat understands that”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a property league astatine the Mexican Foreign Ministry successful Mexico City, Mexico, September 3, 2025 [Jose Mendez/EPA]

Alleged pack members whitethorn not beryllium the lone intended audience, according to Nathan Jones, a nonresident student successful cause argumentation and Mexico studies astatine the Baker Institute for Public Policy successful Houston, Texas.

“I deliberation the signalling whitethorn beryllium much important to governments successful the region, peculiarly the Mexican government,” said Jones, noting that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has sought to onslaught a cautious equilibrium betwixt cooperating with the Trump medication and protecting her country’s sovereignty.

Following reports that Trump had authorised the subject to people definite Latin American cartels successful August, Sheinbaum said that immoderate US “invasion” was “off the table”.

A time aft the strike, Rubio visited Sheinbaum successful Mexico, with the brace agreeing to boost practice to people cartels.

“They don’t privation those types of US subject kinetic operations happening connected their sovereign territory,” Jones said.

“So they’re going to beryllium taking affirmative steps, surely symbolically, to amusement the Trump medication they’re doing everything we tin connected this.”

Domestic ineligible justification

Meanwhile, Trump’s medication has not yet elucidated its justification for the onslaught nether home US law. Any ineligible authorization remains, astatine best, highly murky, analysts said.

Throughout the “Global War connected Terror”, US presidents person relied connected a premix of enforcement powerfulness and Congressional actions to warrant – often tenuously – strikes connected targets extracurricular of progressive struggle zones.

Under the US Constitution, lone Congress tin state war, but presidents tin unilaterally instrumentality immoderate subject actions anterior to receiving legislature approval. The limits of those actions person been heavy debated.

Many of the aerial attacks and drone campaigns that defined the past 2 decades relied connected the alleged Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed by Congress successful 2001, which gives the president authorization to usage “all indispensable and due force” against entities and individuals down the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Even nether the widest mentation of the legislation, it would not use to Tren de Aragua, which the Trump medication has dubiously claimed is straight aligned with the authorities of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, oregon different transgression gangs.

The US president’s law warfare powers, meanwhile, typically use lone to alleged “combatants”, not alleged criminals, the International Crisis Group’s Finucane explained.

“Being a cause smuggler, by itself, does not render you a combatant oregon an force fighter,” Finucane said.

“And if they don’t autumn into that class for instrumentality of warfare purposes, past they’re civilians. And the intentional targeting of civilians is simply a warfare crime.”

Praise from Republicans

Presidential warfare powers besides necessitate reporting to Congress and quality briefings related to underlying justifications. Congress tin past walk authorities to rein in the president’s actions.

But to date, galore apical Republicans person truthful acold indicated small appetite to bash so.

Instead, they person leaned into Trump’s rhetoric, with Senate Committee connected Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch connected Tuesday praising what helium called Trump’s “decisive enactment towards these criminals”.

Senator Tom Cotton echoed Trump’s connection successful his praise, hailing the onslaught against “terrorists”.

Democrats have, successful turn, been comparatively muted successful their response, though the ranking subordinate of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has called for the medication to “brief Congress instantly and spell retired its ineligible justification, if they person one, for this strike”.

All told, the Trump medication appears to beryllium “trying to normalise thing that is illegal”, according to Adam Isacson, the manager of defence oversight astatine the Washington Office connected Latin America (WOLA).

That carries respective risks, including dangers for civilians specified arsenic fishermen and migrants who question successful planetary waters. It besides raises the spectre of strikes connected sovereign territory oregon determination escalation.

“This is turning up the vigor connected the frog successful blistery h2o and making it a fewer degrees hotter, and seeing however galore members of the Republican enactment spell on with it,” Isacson said.

“It appears they’re getting them to beryllium OK with this, and getting them connected grounds being OK with this, truthful that they tin past escalate.”