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Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the Trump administration is at war with drug cartels and the deadly strike on a fast boat from Venezuela was just the first shot across the bow. Some Latin American governments are expressing unease. NPR's Michele Kelemen has spent the past few days traveling with Rubio through the region, and as she reports, Rubio says he found willing partners on his visits to Mexico and Ecuador.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Since he took office, Secretary Rubio has added a dozen drug cartels and gangs to the Foreign Terrorist Organization list.
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MARCO RUBIO: They are narco terrorist organizations. These are not stockbrokers. These are not real estate agents who on the side deal a few drugs. These are organized, corporate-structured organizations who specialize in the trafficking of deadly drugs into the United States of America.
KELEMEN: While the U.S. has relied on interdictions, Rubio says the cartels can factor in those losses and the best way to deter the business, he argues, is by blowing up boats. And he used his stops in Mexico and Ecuador to put countries in the region on notice.
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RUBIO: For cooperative governments, there's no need 'cause those governments are going to help us identify them. They're going to help us find these people and blow them up, if that's what it takes. They're going to help us with it.
KELEMEN: But the Trump administration is on shaky legal grounds with that strike on a fast boat from Venezuela. And there have been mixed reactions in the region, says Brian Nichols, a former career diplomat who was Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere under the Biden administration.
BRIAN NICHOLS: And there's concern that this could be the precursor to a wider conflict.
KELEMEN: Already, Venezuelan fighter jets have buzzed a Navy destroyer in the Caribbean. Nichols says he hopes Venezuelan leaders won't try to, quote, "poke the bear." He predicts, though, that the Trump administration will find this new approach to be costly and unsustainable. The former diplomat does agree with Secretary Rubio on one point - that cartels can price in the loss of any drugs that are confiscated by law enforcement at sea.
NICHOLS: But they can also price in the - you know, the people who get caught will now get killed. So yeah, the price for being one of those crew members on a go-fast boat is going to go up - maybe go up tremendously.
KELEMEN: And cartels can absorb that cost, too.
NICHOLS: So these organizations adjust. And if you're not going after the networks, but only those who are transporting them in a visible way, it's impossible to take down the organization.
KELEMEN: Fighting cartels requires intelligence sharing, law enforcement and the cooperation of governments in the region. Rubio's aides say they made progress on that in Mexico and in Ecuador, where they found President Daniel Noboa to be all in on the fight against drug cartels. Rubio labeled two groups there as narco terrorists, and says he may soon designate more.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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