Fast boats with 365 hp motors are used by Colombian drug smugglers.
Slow boats with 15 hp motors are used by fishermen.
A friend used to live and work down there. He was a sailor for 12 years, plus a master builder by trade. He took building jobs at various spots from Panama south over the years.
He filled me in from his experience. One thing of note is that drug smuggling is rare in Venezuela, because they have oil and gas wealth. But it is rampant in Columbia. Columbian drug smugglers have two routes. Some smugglers direct it northward, taking shipments to ports in the Yucatán. Those drugs end up in the U.S.
But the boats that U.S. forces are targeting are going to the "ABC Islands" (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao). They are off the coast of Venezuela, but they are owned by the Dutch. Drugs going there are destined for Europe, not the U.S.
So this whole targeting drug smugglers as being "at war" with the U.S. and causing deaths here? Another lie. If they were indeed doing that, the ones they would target would be the ones heading for the Yucatán, not the ABC Islands.
Venezuela is the nearest country to the ABC Islands so blowing up the boats is certainly intended to intimidate them. The real goal is to seize their oil and gas, I feel sure, and get rid of Maduro. I'm sure Trump is steamed that he didn't succeed in getting rid of him during his first term.
Haven't Trump officials given the impression that these drug boats were Venezuelan and that Venezuelan gangs were behind them? Look at the evidence. The human rights complaint announced yesterday was by the Colombian family of one of those killed. The two survivors who were let go? Columbian.
Lying liars are going to lie, of course.
And no, sinking the boats and killing everyone on board is not proportional to the crime of smuggling drugs. Plus no evidence has been presented, even though quite possibly these are drug boats. Trump doesn't want to provide evidence. He LIKES flouting laws.
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