The Trump administration is using falsehoods to justify violence on the open seas. Calling the sinking of boats off Venezuela an operation against “narco-terrorists” is purposefully misleading. Claims that those on the targeted boats were plotting to kill Americans, including children, lack evidence and strain belief.

Terrorism entails politically motivated violence against civilians. The term “narco-terrorist” was originally created to describe groups like Colombia’s Medellín Cartel, which used violence to influence government policies, such as extradition to the U.S. Drug trafficking is organized crime to be addressed through criminal law. No evidence has been produced to show that the  Venezuelan drug traffickers are anything but criminals, not terrorists. 

Conflating the two is designed to invoke the language of war, bypass legal safeguards and lower the threshold for lethal force. Drug dealers are driven by profit, not ideology. The idea that traffickers want to kill their own buyers — least of all children — is irrational. Overdose deaths, while tragic, are unintended consequences of an illegal market, not evidence of terrorist intent. No enterprise, legal or criminal, survives by destroying its customer base.

Unfortunately, the media has echoed the administration’s terminology. Repeating “narco-terrorist,” without questioning it, promotes a false narrative. A free press should challenge claims and demand proof.

The consequences are serious. Labeling criminals as terrorists risks casting unlawful killings as legitimate military actions, which could violate international law and undermine the rule of law. When an administration lies to justify violence, it endangers lives and damages U.S. credibility abroad.

Gary Massanek
Topsham