OPINION:
It is the responsibility of the U.S. government to ensure that illicit drugs do not enter the U.S. In 2024, about 73 million Americans 12 and older reported using an illicit drug, with 28.2 million Americans having a drug use disorder. In 2023, more than 587,000 Americans in this age group had a heroin use disorder, and by 2024, about 1.3 million Americans had a cocaine use disorder.
Clearly, the U.S. has a drug problem that’s principally affecting our younger generation.
Heroin, fentanyl (made using precursor chemicals and equipment largely from companies in China) and methamphetamine come principally from Mexico. Colombia produces most of the cocaine smuggled into the U.S. via maritime routes or over land through Central America and Mexico into the U.S.
Venezuela does not produce large quantities of cocaine, but it is in key air and sea routes (to the Caribbean or Atlantic coast) used by Colombian trafficking organizations such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group, and other dissident groups and independent drug cartels. This has made Venezuela a significant hub for drug trafficking, principally for Colombian cocaine destined for the U.S., Europe or West Africa.
In 2005, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expelled the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from Venezuela, claiming it was using counternarcotics for intelligence collection purposes. This allegation was obviously false, but it permitted Venezuela to traffic in drugs with literally no U.S. oversight.
The U.S. government has indicted several Venezuelan generals and other high-ranking military officials deeply involved in international drug trafficking, primarily in the facilitation of cocaine shipments from Colombia through Venezuela. The U.S. government has collectively named these military-affiliated groups the “Cartel of the Suns” and this year designated it a terrorist organization.
Recently, the U.S. has acknowledged five military strikes on Venezuelan boats trafficking in drugs. A sixth strike was in the Caribbean, and a seventh, on Oct. 17, was linked to Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional, a Colombian guerrilla group the U.S. has considered a terrorist organization since the 1990s. The vessel reportedly transported substantial amounts of narcotics.
The U.S. works with Mexico, Colombia and other nations on several counternarcotics programs, including monitoring and eliminating the organized criminal groups (narcotraffickers) that deal with these drugs and (coca) plant eradication efforts. The DEA is the principal U.S. agency responsible for these programs, aided by the State Department, the military and the intelligence community and working closely with host country law enforcement and military entities.
Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and the Central American countries with which the U.S. works have an obligation to ensure that these drugs are not moved to the U.S. via air or sea routes.
Indeed, that is what we are witnessing with the Venezuelan vessels the U.S. has destroyed. Given Venezuela’s past actions, it should now be clear that a number of Venezuelan generals were and are complicit with these drug shipments to the U.S. Their apparent goal is to enrich themselves and weaken our society.
The U.S. must do more to ensure that these drug cartels are defeated. The Trump administration’s emphasis on counternarcotics operations is commendable. Hopefully, we will continue to make counternarcotics a high priority for the U.S.
• The author is a former director of the CIA’s Crime and Narcotics Center. All statements of fact, opinion or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the U.S. government. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying U.S. government authentication of information or endorsement of the author’s views.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.