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Grief washed over Gloucester on Saturday morning, rippling out over Cape Ann and through the Northeast fishing community, as the Coast Guard suspended its search for six people missing after the fishing vessel Lily Jean went down Friday.
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By Andrea Holbrook | Staff Writer
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Grief washed over Gloucester on Saturday morning, rippling out over Cape Ann and through the Northeast fishing community, as the Coast Guard suspended its search for six people missing after the fishing vessel Lily Jean went down Friday.
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By Andrea Holbrook | Staff Writer
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As the U.S. military began launching strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean last year, a young Trinidadian man who was in Venezuela for work was searching for a way home, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.Chad Joseph, 26, had been in Venezuela for months fishing and doing farm work when he began looking for a boat to hitch a ride back to Las Cuevas in Trinidad and Tobago, where his wife and three children lived. But as the U.S. began targeting vessels officials said were carrying drugs destined for American streets, Joseph “became increasingly fearful” of making the journey, court documents say. The concerns became so real that in early September, his wife recalled, he called to assure her that he had not been aboard a vessel just hit by the U.S., pledging to be home soon.The last call home was on Oct. 12, when Joseph told his wife he’d found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad, and he would be seeing her in a matter of days, according to court documents. Two days later, however, on Oct. 14, the U.S. struck another target — a boat Joseph’s family believes he was in.“Mr. Joseph’s wife repeatedly called Mr. Joseph’s cellphone, but the line was dead,” a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the U.S. government says. “The line remains dead to this day.”Joseph’s family, and the family of another Trinidadian man, 41-year-old Rishi Samaroo, who had been working with Joseph in Venezuela and who is also believed to have been on the boat, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing of the two men. The complaint calls the strikes “unprecedented and manifestly unlawful,” and says they have carried out “premeditated and intentional killings” with no legal justification.CNN asked the Justice Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response before publication. The Defense Department declined to comment on ongoing litigation.The complaint says that, despite claims by President Donald Trump and other administration officials that all the men killed on board were “narcoterrorists,” neither Joseph nor Samaroo had any affiliation to drug cartels.The lawsuit marks the first opportunity for a judge to rule on the legality of the strikes which are part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific — dubbed Operation Southern Spear — that has killed at least 117 people. The most recent strike was carried out last week in the eastern Pacific, killing two and leaving one survivor who was being searched for by the Coast Guard.The lawsuit points specifically to the Death on the High Seas Act, which allows family members to sue over wrongful deaths on the high seas, and the Alien Tort Statute, which lets foreign nationals sue in federal courts over violations of international law.The families are suing for compensatory and punitive damages and they are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Jonathan Hafetz with the Seton Hall Law School.The administration has publicly presented little evidence that those killed in the ongoing campaign are affiliates of drug cartels, or that each of the vessels had drugs on them. When pressed by lawmakers during congressional briefings, military officials have acknowledged they do not know the identities of everyone on board the boats they have destroyed.The legality of the strikes has come under intense scrutiny in Congress since the operations began in September, including particular interest in the very first strike, when the military carried out a second strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack. Multiple current and former military lawyers previously told CNN the strikes do not appear lawful.But the administration has maintained that the operation is a necessary step against drugs heading for US shores that will ultimately harm Americans.Trump announced the Oct. 14 strike in a social media post, saying “six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed” and that intelligence had confirmed the vessel was “trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route.”‘They must be held accountable’Similar to Joseph, Samaroo had communicated with his family just days before the Oct. 14 strike. Having served 15 years in prison for “participation in a homicide” in Trinidad, and released early on parole, Samaroo moved to Las Cuevas, Trinidad, and in August 2025 he went to Venezuela to work on a farm, the lawsuit says.He frequently shared photos and videos with his family of his time on the farm, “where he cared for cows and goats and made cheese.” During one video call, he introduced Joseph, a friend from home who he said he was working with in Venezuela.On Oct. 12, Samaroo sent his sister, Sallycar Korasingh, a photo in a lifejacket, telling her he had found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad and he would see her in a few days.“That call was the last time Ms. Korasingh, or anyone else in his family, heard from Mr. Samaroo,” the complaint says.In a statement issued by the ACLU, Korasingh said her brother was a “hardworking man who paid his debt to society and was just trying to get back on his feet again.”“If the US government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him,” she said. “Not murdered him. They must be held accountable.”Members of the administration have repeatedly insisted that those killed in the strikes are “narcoterrorists” — in November, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media that “every trafficker killed is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”The lawsuit, however, says neither Joseph nor Samaroo were “members of, or affiliated with, drug cartels.”“The Trinidadian government has publicly stated that ‘the government has no information linking Joseph or Samaroo to illegal activities,’ and that it had ‘no information of the victims of US strikes being in possession of illegal drugs, guns, or small arms,’” the complaint says.The complaint calls into question one of the primary claims made by Trump administration officials throughout the course of the campaign, that the boats — and the drugs allegedly aboard them — were headed for the U.S. and required urgent military action. The lawsuit says, however, that Joseph and Samaroo were headed home to Trinidad on the vessel targeted by the US.In the wake of the first strike in September, Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially said that boat was headed toward Trinidad or elsewhere in the Caribbean.Last year, the Trump administration justified the operation with a classified legal opinion produced by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The opinion argues that the president is allowed to authorize deadly force against a broad range of cartels because they pose an imminent threat to Americans.The opinion appears to justify an open-ended war against a secret list of groups, legal experts have said, giving the president power to designate drug traffickers as enemy combatants and have them killed without legal review. Historically, those involved in drug trafficking were considered criminals with due process rights, with the Coast Guard interdicting drug-trafficking vessels and arresting smugglers.The lawsuit, however, offers the first opportunity for those who believe the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings to present their case before a judge.“Whatever that secret memorandum states, it cannot render the patently illegal killings lawful,” the court filing says.
As the U.S. military began launching strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean last year, a young Trinidadian man who was in Venezuela for work was searching for a way home, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.
Chad Joseph, 26, had been in Venezuela for months fishing and doing farm work when he began looking for a boat to hitch a ride back to Las Cuevas in Trinidad and Tobago, where his wife and three children lived. But as the U.S. began targeting vessels officials said were carrying drugs destined for American streets, Joseph “became increasingly fearful” of making the journey, court documents say. The concerns became so real that in early September, his wife recalled, he called to assure her that he had not been aboard a vessel just hit by the U.S., pledging to be home soon.
The last call home was on Oct. 12, when Joseph told his wife he’d found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad, and he would be seeing her in a matter of days, according to court documents. Two days later, however, on Oct. 14, the U.S. struck another target — a boat Joseph’s family believes he was in.
“Mr. Joseph’s wife repeatedly called Mr. Joseph’s cellphone, but the line was dead,” a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the U.S. government says. “The line remains dead to this day.”
Joseph’s family, and the family of another Trinidadian man, 41-year-old Rishi Samaroo, who had been working with Joseph in Venezuela and who is also believed to have been on the boat, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing of the two men. The complaint calls the strikes “unprecedented and manifestly unlawful,” and says they have carried out “premeditated and intentional killings” with no legal justification.
CNN asked the Justice Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response before publication. The Defense Department declined to comment on ongoing litigation.
The complaint says that, despite claims by President Donald Trump and other administration officials that all the men killed on board were “narcoterrorists,” neither Joseph nor Samaroo had any affiliation to drug cartels.
The lawsuit marks the first opportunity for a judge to rule on the legality of the strikes which are part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific — dubbed Operation Southern Spear — that has killed at least 117 people. The most recent strike was carried out last week in the eastern Pacific, killing two and leaving one survivor who was being searched for by the Coast Guard.
The lawsuit points specifically to the Death on the High Seas Act, which allows family members to sue over wrongful deaths on the high seas, and the Alien Tort Statute, which lets foreign nationals sue in federal courts over violations of international law.
The families are suing for compensatory and punitive damages and they are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Jonathan Hafetz with the Seton Hall Law School.
The administration has publicly presented little evidence that those killed in the ongoing campaign are affiliates of drug cartels, or that each of the vessels had drugs on them. When pressed by lawmakers during congressional briefings, military officials have acknowledged they do not know the identities of everyone on board the boats they have destroyed.
The legality of the strikes has come under intense scrutiny in Congress since the operations began in September, including particular interest in the very first strike, when the military carried out a second strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack. Multiple current and former military lawyers previously told CNN the strikes do not appear lawful.
But the administration has maintained that the operation is a necessary step against drugs heading for US shores that will ultimately harm Americans.
Trump announced the Oct. 14 strike in a social media post, saying “six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed” and that intelligence had confirmed the vessel was “trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route.”
Similar to Joseph, Samaroo had communicated with his family just days before the Oct. 14 strike. Having served 15 years in prison for “participation in a homicide” in Trinidad, and released early on parole, Samaroo moved to Las Cuevas, Trinidad, and in August 2025 he went to Venezuela to work on a farm, the lawsuit says.
He frequently shared photos and videos with his family of his time on the farm, “where he cared for cows and goats and made cheese.” During one video call, he introduced Joseph, a friend from home who he said he was working with in Venezuela.
On Oct. 12, Samaroo sent his sister, Sallycar Korasingh, a photo in a lifejacket, telling her he had found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad and he would see her in a few days.
“That call was the last time Ms. Korasingh, or anyone else in his family, heard from Mr. Samaroo,” the complaint says.
In a statement issued by the ACLU, Korasingh said her brother was a “hardworking man who paid his debt to society and was just trying to get back on his feet again.”
“If the US government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him,” she said. “Not murdered him. They must be held accountable.”
Members of the administration have repeatedly insisted that those killed in the strikes are “narcoterrorists” — in November, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media that “every trafficker killed is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”
The lawsuit, however, says neither Joseph nor Samaroo were “members of, or affiliated with, drug cartels.”
“The Trinidadian government has publicly stated that ‘the government has no information linking Joseph or Samaroo to illegal activities,’ and that it had ‘no information of the victims of US strikes being in possession of illegal drugs, guns, or small arms,’” the complaint says.
The complaint calls into question one of the primary claims made by Trump administration officials throughout the course of the campaign, that the boats — and the drugs allegedly aboard them — were headed for the U.S. and required urgent military action. The lawsuit says, however, that Joseph and Samaroo were headed home to Trinidad on the vessel targeted by the US.
In the wake of the first strike in September, Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially said that boat was headed toward Trinidad or elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Last year, the Trump administration justified the operation with a classified legal opinion produced by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The opinion argues that the president is allowed to authorize deadly force against a broad range of cartels because they pose an imminent threat to Americans.
The opinion appears to justify an open-ended war against a secret list of groups, legal experts have said, giving the president power to designate drug traffickers as enemy combatants and have them killed without legal review. Historically, those involved in drug trafficking were considered criminals with due process rights, with the Coast Guard interdicting drug-trafficking vessels and arresting smugglers.
The lawsuit, however, offers the first opportunity for those who believe the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings to present their case before a judge.
“Whatever that secret memorandum states, it cannot render the patently illegal killings lawful,” the court filing says.
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A Great Pyrenees dubbed “Banks” was rescued Wednesday after getting stuck in mud along a river in Iowa, prompting a boat response from the Marshalltown Fire Department because the heavily wooded area prevented police from reaching the dog on foot.”They tried to reach him by foot, and they couldn’t, so they asked us to take our boat out,” said Deputy Fire Chief Curt Raue.Firefighters freed the dog quickly. “This one was as textbook as it could be,” said Raue.Banks was turned over to the Marshalltown Animal Rescue League, where veterinarians cleared him. “Vets gave us a clear bill of health,” said Austin Gillis, the executive director of the Animal Rescue League of Marshalltown.Gillis says the positive outcome was helped by the dog’s thick coat and the fact that he was in mud, not water. “If the animal is dry, we’ve got time to make this as safe as possible,” Gillis said.Less than a day after his rescue, Banks was energetic, though still caked with mud, and expected to be cleaned up after grooming. No information has been released about possible owners or how he ended up there. For the time being, “Banks” will be cared for by the Animal Rescue League of Marshalltown.It is likely he will not be there very long.Deputy Chief Raue says a firefighter who played a role in the rescue has filed paperwork to adopt him, saying Banks “made an impression on a lot of the people who rescued him.”
A Great Pyrenees dubbed “Banks” was rescued Wednesday after getting stuck in mud along a river in Iowa, prompting a boat response from the Marshalltown Fire Department because the heavily wooded area prevented police from reaching the dog on foot.
“They tried to reach him by foot, and they couldn’t, so they asked us to take our boat out,” said Deputy Fire Chief Curt Raue.
Firefighters freed the dog quickly.
“This one was as textbook as it could be,” said Raue.
Banks was turned over to the Marshalltown Animal Rescue League, where veterinarians cleared him.
“Vets gave us a clear bill of health,” said Austin Gillis, the executive director of the Animal Rescue League of Marshalltown.
Gillis says the positive outcome was helped by the dog’s thick coat and the fact that he was in mud, not water.
“If the animal is dry, we’ve got time to make this as safe as possible,” Gillis said.
Less than a day after his rescue, Banks was energetic, though still caked with mud, and expected to be cleaned up after grooming.
No information has been released about possible owners or how he ended up there.
For the time being, “Banks” will be cared for by the Animal Rescue League of Marshalltown.
It is likely he will not be there very long.
Deputy Chief Raue says a firefighter who played a role in the rescue has filed paperwork to adopt him, saying Banks “made an impression on a lot of the people who rescued him.”
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Get the Facts: Is Venezuela a primary drug trafficker to the United States?
OK, thank you very much. This is big stuff. And we appreciate you being here. Late last night. And early today. At my direction, the United States armed forces. Conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela. Overwhelming American military power, air, land and sea was used to launch *** spectacular assault. And it was an assault like people have not seen since. World War II. It was *** force against *** heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas. To bring outlaw dictator Nicolas Maduro to justice. This was one of the most stunning. Effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence. In American history. And if you think about it, we’ve done some, Other good ones like the, Attack on Soleimani. The attack on al-Baghdadi. And the Obliteration and decimation of the Iran nuclear sites. Just recently. In an operation known as Midnight Hammer. All perfectly executed and done. No nation in the world could achieve what America achieved yesterday or frankly in just *** short period of time. All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless as the men and women of our military working with US law enforcement successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night. It was. Dark, the, uh, lights of Caracas were largely turned off. Due to *** certain expertise that we have. It was dark and it was deadly. But captured along with his wife. Celia Flores. Both of whom now face American justice. Maduro and Flores have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Jay Clayton for their campaign of deadly narco-terrorism against the United States and its citizens. I want to thank the men and women of our military who achieved such an extraordinary success overnight. With breathtaking speed, power, precision, and competence. You rarely see anything like it. You’ve seen some raids in this country that didn’t go so well. They were an embarrassment. If you look back to Afghanistan or if you look back to The Jimmy Carter days, they were different days. We’re *** respected country again like maybe like never before. These highly trained warriors operating in collaboration with US law enforcement caught them in *** very ready position. They were waiting for us. They knew we had many ships out. In the sea we just sort of waiting. They knew we were coming, so they were in *** ready, what’s called *** ready position. But they were completely overwhelmed and very quickly incapacitated. If you would have seen what I saw last night, you would have been very impressed. I’m not sure that you’ll ever get to see it, but it was an incredible thing to see. Not *** single American service member was killed and not *** single piece of American equipment was lost. We had many helicopters, many planes, many. Many people involved in that fight. But think of that not one piece of military equipment was lost, not one service member was more importantly killed. The United States military is the strongest and most fearsome military on the planet by far, with capabilities and skills, our enemies can. Scarcely begin to imagine we have the best equipment anywhere in the world. There’s no equipment like what we have, and you see that even if you just look at the boats, you know, we’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by sea. 90%. Each boat kills 25 on average 25,000 people. We knocked out 97%. And those drugs mostly come from *** place called Venezuela. We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do *** safe, proper, and judicious transition, so. We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years, so we are going to run the country until such time as we can do *** safe, proper, and judicious transition, and it has to be judicious. Because that’s what we’re all about. We want peace, liberty and justice for the great people of Venezuela. And that includes many from Venezuela that are now living in the United States and want to go back to their country, it’s their homeland. We can’t take *** chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind. Had decades of that. We’re not going to let that happen. We’re there now, and what people don’t understand, but they understand as I say this, we’re there now, but we’re. Going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place, so we’re going to stay until such time as we’re going to run it essentially until such time as *** proper transition can take place. As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been *** bust, *** total bust for *** long period of time. They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could. have been pumping and what could have taken place. We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure. And start making money for the country. And we are Ready to stage *** second and much larger attack if We need to do so, so we were prepared to do *** second wave. If We needed to do so. We actually assumed that *** second wave would be necessary, but now it’s probably not. The first wave, if you’d like to call it that, the first attack was so successful we probably don’t have to do *** second, but we’re prepared to do *** second wave, *** much bigger wave actually. This was pinpoint, but we have *** much bigger wave that. Probably won’t have to do this partnership of Venezuela with the United States of America, *** country that everybody wants to be involved with because of what we were able to do and accomplish, will make the people of Venezuela rich, independent, and safe, and it will also make the many, many people from Venezuela that are living in the United States extremely happy. They suffered. They suffered. So much was taken from them. They’re not going to suffer anymore. The illegitimate dictator Maduro was the kingpin of *** vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States. As alleged in the indictment, he personally oversaw the vicious cartel known as Cartel de las Solis. Which flooded our nation with lethal poison responsible for the deaths of countless Americans, the many, many Americans, hundreds of thousands over the years of Americans died because of him. Maduro and his wife will soon face the full might of American justice and stand trial on American soil. Right now they’re on *** ship they’ll be heading to ultimately New York and then *** decision will be made, I assume between New York and. Miami or Florida. But we have People where the overwhelming evidence of their crimes will be presented in *** court of law, and I’ve seen it. I’ve seen what we have. It’s It’s both horrible and breathtaking that something like this could have been allowed to take place. For many years after his term as president of Venezuela expired, Maduro remained in power and waged *** ceaseless campaign of violence, terror, and subversion against the United States of America, threatening not only our people but the stability of the entire region. And you also, in addition to trafficking gigantic amounts of illegal drugs. That inflicted untold suffering and human destruction all over the country, all over, in particular the United States. Maduro sent savage and murderous gangs, including the bloodthirsty prison gang Tren de Arragua, to terrorize American communities nationwide, and he did indeed. They were in Colorado. They took over apartment complexes. They cut the fingers of people if they call police. They were brutal. But they’re not so brutal now? And I just have to Congratulate our military, Pete and everybody in our National Guard. Because the job that they’ve done, whether it’s in Washington DC where we have *** totally safe city where it was one of the most unsafe cities anywhere in the world, frankly, and now we have no crime in Washington DC. We haven’t had *** killing. We had the terrorist attack *** few weeks ago. Uh, *** little bit of *** different kind of ***, *** threat, but we haven’t had *** killing in *** long period of time, 67 months, we used to have 2, on average 2 *** week in Washington, our capital. We don’t have that anymore. The restaurants are opening. Everyone’s happy. They’re going, they’re walking their daughters, they’re walking their children, their wives, they walk to restaurants. Restaurants are opening all over Washington DC. So I want to thank the National Guard. I want to thank our military, and I want to thank law enforcement. It’s been amazing. And they should do it with more cities. We’re doing it, as you know, and uh we’re doing it in Memphis, Tennessee right now, and crime is down. We’ve just sort of started *** few weeks ago, but crime is down now 77%. And uh the governor of Louisiana called, great person. And he wanted us to help him, as you know, in *** certain very nice part of Louisiana, and we have done that and it’s *** rough, it was *** rough, rough section and we have climbed down. I, I understand it’s down to almost nothing already after 2.5 weeks. New Orleans, it’s down to almost nothing, and we’ve only been there for 2.5 weeks. Can’t imagine why governors wouldn’t want us to help. We also helped, as you know, in Chicago, and crime went down *** little bit there. We did *** very small help because we had no, no. We had no working ability with the governor. The governor was *** disaster and the mayor was *** disaster, but it knocked down crime. But we’re pulling out of there when they need us, we’ll know. You’ll know. You’ll be writing about it. And likewise Los Angeles, where we saved Los Angeles early on where the. Head of the police department made *** statement that if the federal government didn’t come in we would have lost Los Angeles. That’s after long after the fires. That’s when they had the riots in Los Angeles. We did *** great job. We got no credit for it whatsoever, but that’s OK. It doesn’t matter. We don’t need the credit. But we’ll be pulling out when they need us. They’ll call or we’ll go back if we have to. We’ll go back, but we did *** great job in various cities. But the thing, the place that we’re very proud of is Washington DC because it’s our nation’s capital. We took it from being *** crime ridden mess to being one of the safest cities in the country. But the gangs that they sent raped, tortured, and murdered American women and children. They were in all of the cities I mentioned, Trendaragua. And they were sent by Maduro to terrorize our people and now Maduro will never again be able to threaten an American citizen or anybody from Venezuela. There will no longer be threats. For years I’ve highlighted the stories of those innocent Americans whose lives. We’re so heartlessly robbed by this Venezuelan terrorist organization, really one of the worst, one of the worst, they say the worst. Americans like 12 year old Jocelyn Nungary from Houston. Beautiful Jocelyn. Nungarary, what happened to her? They, uh, as you know, they kidnapped, assaulted and murdered by Trende Aragua. Animals they murdered Jocelyn. And Left her dead under the bridge. There was *** bridge. *** bridge that will never be the same to so many people after seeing what happened. As I’ve said many times, the Maduro regime emptied out their prisons, sent their worst and most violent monsters into the United States to steal American lives, and they came from mental institutions and insane asylums. They came from prisons and jails. The reason I say both, they sound similar actually. Prisons, *** little bit more. *** little bit more hostile, *** little bit tougher. *** mental institution isn’t as tough as an insane asylum, but we got them both. They sent from their mental institutions. They sent from their jails, prisons. They were drug dealers. They were drug kingpins. They sent everybody bad into the United States. But no longer, and we have now *** border where nobody gets through. In addition, Venezuela. Unilaterally seized and sold American oil, American assets, and American platforms, costing us billions and billions of dollars. They did this *** while ago, but we never had *** president that did anything about it. They took all of our property. It was our property. We built it. And we never had *** president that decided to do anything about it. Instead they fought wars that were 10,000 miles away. We built Venezuela oil industry with American talent, drive and skill, and the socialist regime stole it from us during those previous administrations, and they stole it through force. This constituted one of the largest thefts of American property in the history of our country, considered the largest theft of property in the history of our country. Massive oil infrastructure was taken like we were babies, and we didn’t do anything about it. I would have done something about it. America will never allow foreign powers to rob our people or drive us back into. And out of our own hemisphere, that’s what they did. Furthermore, under the now deposed dictator Maduro, Venezuela was increasingly hosting foreign adversaries in our region. And acquiring menacing offensive weapons that could threaten US interests and lives, and they used those weapons last night. They used those weapons last night, potentially in league with the cartels operating along our border. All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy dating back more than two centuries. And uh not anymore all the way back it dated to the Monroe Doctrines. And the Monroe Doctrine is *** big deal, but we’ve superseded it by *** lot. By *** real lot. They now call it the Don Ro document. I don’t know. It’s, uh, Monroe Doctrine, we sort of forgot about it. It was very important, but we forgot about it. We don’t forget about it anymore. Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again. Won’t happen. So just in concluding, for decades other administrations have neglected or even Contributed to these growing security threats in the Western Hemisphere. Under the Trump administration, we are reasserting American power in *** very powerful way. In our home region. And our home region is very different than it was just *** short while ago. The future will be, and we did this in my first term. We had great dominance in my first term, and We have far greater dominance right now. Everyone’s coming back to us. The future will be determined by the ability to protect commerce and territory and resources that are core to national security. These are core to our national security. Just like tariffs are, they’ve made our country rich and they’ve made our national security strong, stronger than ever before. But these are the iron laws that have always determined global power. And we’re going to keep it that way. We will secure our borders. We will stop the terrorists. We will crash the cartels, and we will defend our citizens against all threats, foreign and domestic. Other presidents may have lacked the courage or whatever to defend America, but I will never allow terrorists and criminals to operate with impunity against the United States. This extremely successful operation should serve as *** warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives. Very importantly, the embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect. The American. Armada remains poised in position, and the United States retains all military options until the United States demands have been fully met and fully satisfied. All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand. What happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them. If they aren’t just fair, even to their people, the dictator and terrorist Maduro. is finally gone in Venezuela. People are free. They’re free again. It’s been *** long time for them, but they’re free. America is *** safer nation. This morning It’s *** prouder nation this morning because it didn’t allow. This horrible person and this country that was Doing very bad things to us, it didn’t allow it to happen, and the Western Hemisphere is right now *** much safer place to be. So I want to thank everybody for being here. I want to thank General Raisin Kane. He’s *** fantastic man. I’ve worked with *** lot of generals. I worked with some I didn’t like. I worked with some I didn’t respect. I worked with some that just weren’t good. But this guy is fantastic. I watched last night one of the most precise. Attacks on sovereignty. I mean it was an attack for justice and I’m very proud of him and I’m very proud of our Secretary of War Pete Hegseth who I’m going to ask to say *** few words. Thank you very much.
The Trump administration has set its sights on Venezuela in its latest campaign against illegal drugs, but data shows that the country is responsible for just a sliver of drug trafficking directly to the United States. The Get the Facts Data Team analyzed data on cocaine and fentanyl trafficking. While Venezuela is a player in cocaine manufacturing and trafficking, drug seizure data shows that it’s not as prominent a supplier of cocaine to the U.S. as other South American and Latin American countries. There is also no evidence that any significant level of illegal fentanyl — the primary killer in U.S. overdose deaths — is produced in South America, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).UNODC analyzes global drug trafficking based on reporting from its member states, open sources and drug seizure information.Most illegal fentanyl enters the U.S. from Mexico, per UNODC and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Illicit fentanyl can also be diverted, or stolen, from legal sources as medical professionals use the drug.Yet President Donald Trump has linked his administration’s attacks on drug vessels in Latin America to the fentanyl crisis, among other drugs.After the Sept. 19 attack on a boat in the Caribbean that killed three people, Trump posted on Truth Social, claiming that the boat was carrying drugs and headed for America. “STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA,” his post said. The next day, in a speech, Trump said that thousands are dying because of “boatloads” of fentanyl and drugs. He’s also repeatedly said that each boat strike would save 25,000 lives.As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35, and the number of people killed stands at least 115, according to the Trump administration.Previously, Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. Hearst Television’s partner PolitiFact labeled that 25,000 number mathematically dubious.Maduro’s capture on Jan. 3On Saturday, the Trump administration struck Venezuela in a new, stunning way, capturing its leader, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife. Both are being taken to the United States to face charges related to drug trafficking.The strike followed a monthslong Trump administration pressure campaign on the Venezuelan leader, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.Venezuela’s role in cocaine traffickingVenezuela is not among the primary direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S. Like fentanyl, most cocaine enters the U.S. from Mexico and typically gets to Mexico via maritime transportation on both the Pacific and Caribbean sides, according to UNODC research officer Antoine Vella. Some also arrives in Mexico via land transportation.While the Trump administration’s early September attacks targeted Venezuelan boats, there is no known direct cocaine trade route from Venezuela to the U.S. via sea. The only known direct Venezuela to U.S. trafficking route is via air, according to drug seizure data from UNODC. Cocaine could still arrive from Venezuela to the U.S. through intermediary countries.Colombia, Ecuador and Panama are among the main direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S. via boat. From harvest to productionCoca, the plant that cocaine is made from, is grown primarily in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Once coca is harvested, the cocaine in the leaf needs to be extracted. That processing occurs at illegal manufacturing facilities around the globe.The three coca-growing countries also have the most illegal processing facilities. Colombia had by far the most of any country at about 26,400 detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s followed by about 3,200 processing facilities in Bolivia and 2,400 in Peru. Venezuela, which neighbors Colombia, had about 260 illegal processing facilities detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s ranked fifth among countries with the most processing facilities.”Every country that borders Colombia has an issue with cocaine in terms of cocaine trafficking,” Vella said. PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=
The Trump administration has set its sights on Venezuela in its latest campaign against illegal drugs, but data shows that the country is responsible for just a sliver of drug trafficking directly to the United States.
The Get the Facts Data Team analyzed data on cocaine and fentanyl trafficking. While Venezuela is a player in cocaine manufacturing and trafficking, drug seizure data shows that it’s not as prominent a supplier of cocaine to the U.S. as other South American and Latin American countries.
There is also no evidence that any significant level of illegal fentanyl — the primary killer in U.S. overdose deaths — is produced in South America, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
UNODC analyzes global drug trafficking based on reporting from its member states, open sources and drug seizure information.
Most illegal fentanyl enters the U.S. from Mexico, per UNODC and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Illicit fentanyl can also be diverted, or stolen, from legal sources as medical professionals use the drug.
Yet President Donald Trump has linked his administration’s attacks on drug vessels in Latin America to the fentanyl crisis, among other drugs.
After the Sept. 19 attack on a boat in the Caribbean that killed three people, Trump posted on Truth Social, claiming that the boat was carrying drugs and headed for America. “STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA,” his post said.
The next day, in a speech, Trump said that thousands are dying because of “boatloads” of fentanyl and drugs. He’s also repeatedly said that each boat strike would save 25,000 lives.
As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35, and the number of people killed stands at least 115, according to the Trump administration.
Previously, Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. Hearst Television’s partner PolitiFact labeled that 25,000 number mathematically dubious.
On Saturday, the Trump administration struck Venezuela in a new, stunning way, capturing its leader, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife. Both are being taken to the United States to face charges related to drug trafficking.
The strike followed a monthslong Trump administration pressure campaign on the Venezuelan leader, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.
Venezuela is not among the primary direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S.
Like fentanyl, most cocaine enters the U.S. from Mexico and typically gets to Mexico via maritime transportation on both the Pacific and Caribbean sides, according to UNODC research officer Antoine Vella. Some also arrives in Mexico via land transportation.
While the Trump administration’s early September attacks targeted Venezuelan boats, there is no known direct cocaine trade route from Venezuela to the U.S. via sea. The only known direct Venezuela to U.S. trafficking route is via air, according to drug seizure data from UNODC. Cocaine could still arrive from Venezuela to the U.S. through intermediary countries.
Colombia, Ecuador and Panama are among the main direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S. via boat.
Coca, the plant that cocaine is made from, is grown primarily in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.
Once coca is harvested, the cocaine in the leaf needs to be extracted. That processing occurs at illegal manufacturing facilities around the globe.
The three coca-growing countries also have the most illegal processing facilities. Colombia had by far the most of any country at about 26,400 detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s followed by about 3,200 processing facilities in Bolivia and 2,400 in Peru.
Venezuela, which neighbors Colombia, had about 260 illegal processing facilities detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s ranked fifth among countries with the most processing facilities.
“Every country that borders Colombia has an issue with cocaine in terms of cocaine trafficking,” Vella said.
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i i uh ban. Uh, uh, losing pan.
Indonesian rescuers find a body while searching for Spanish soccer coach and 3 children
Updated: 1:16 AM EST Dec 29, 2025
Indonesian rescuers recovered the body of a female victim believed to be part of the family of a Spanish soccer coach and his three children who went missing after a tour boat sank three days ago.The rescue team discovered the body just after dawn Monday, floating near the northern waters of Serai island, about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) from the site of the sinking, after a local resident spotted the victim, said Fathur Rahman, the Maumere Search and Rescue Office chief.He said the body was transported to a hospital in Labuan Bajo, a gateway town to eastern Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, for identification.“Relatives of the victim joined the ambulance to ensure identification through medical and forensic procedures,” Rahman said.The family holiday in the park area turned tragic for Valencia CF Women’s B coach Fernando Martín, 44, when the boat also carrying his wife, their four children, four crew members and a local guide, went down Friday evening after suffering engine failure on a trip within the park that attracts thousands of international visitors for diving, trekking and wildlife tours.Martín’s wife and another child, along with four crew members and a local guide, were rescued in the hours following the incident. But Martin, his two sons and another daughter, aged 9, 10 and 12, were unaccounted for.Rahman said Martin’s wife, Andrea, their youngest daughter, Mar, and other survivors are in good health and that authorities are investigating the cause of the accident.Komodo National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its rugged landscapes, pristine beaches and the endangered Komodo dragon.The search operation, on its fourth day Monday, continues for the remaining family members. Efforts have been reinforced with nearly 100 personnel, supported by police and navy, who were combing four sectors in inflatable boats, navy ships and rescue vessels with the assistance of local fishers and residents. Divers were also deployed.The search area had been doubled from the initial one centered on a 9-kilometer (5.6-mile) radius from the site of the sinking, where rescue teams found the boat debris, Rahman said. Indonesian law calls for searches to continue for seven days and may be extended if necessary.In a statement on X, the Valencia CF football club expressed condolences, calling the tragedy “a devastating loss” for the club and its community.Spain’s La Liga expressed its heartfelt support in a message of solidarity while other soccer clubs, including Real Madrid and Barcelona, also offered condolences.Indonesia is an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands, where boats are a common form of transportation. With lax safety standards and problems with overcrowding, accidents occur frequently.
Indonesian rescuers recovered the body of a female victim believed to be part of the family of a Spanish soccer coach and his three children who went missing after a tour boat sank three days ago.
The rescue team discovered the body just after dawn Monday, floating near the northern waters of Serai island, about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) from the site of the sinking, after a local resident spotted the victim, said Fathur Rahman, the Maumere Search and Rescue Office chief.
He said the body was transported to a hospital in Labuan Bajo, a gateway town to eastern Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, for identification.
“Relatives of the victim joined the ambulance to ensure identification through medical and forensic procedures,” Rahman said.
The family holiday in the park area turned tragic for Valencia CF Women’s B coach Fernando Martín, 44, when the boat also carrying his wife, their four children, four crew members and a local guide, went down Friday evening after suffering engine failure on a trip within the park that attracts thousands of international visitors for diving, trekking and wildlife tours.
Martín’s wife and another child, along with four crew members and a local guide, were rescued in the hours following the incident. But Martin, his two sons and another daughter, aged 9, 10 and 12, were unaccounted for.
Rahman said Martin’s wife, Andrea, their youngest daughter, Mar, and other survivors are in good health and that authorities are investigating the cause of the accident.
Komodo National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its rugged landscapes, pristine beaches and the endangered Komodo dragon.
The search operation, on its fourth day Monday, continues for the remaining family members. Efforts have been reinforced with nearly 100 personnel, supported by police and navy, who were combing four sectors in inflatable boats, navy ships and rescue vessels with the assistance of local fishers and residents. Divers were also deployed.
The search area had been doubled from the initial one centered on a 9-kilometer (5.6-mile) radius from the site of the sinking, where rescue teams found the boat debris, Rahman said. Indonesian law calls for searches to continue for seven days and may be extended if necessary.
In a statement on X, the Valencia CF football club expressed condolences, calling the tragedy “a devastating loss” for the club and its community.
Spain’s La Liga expressed its heartfelt support in a message of solidarity while other soccer clubs, including Real Madrid and Barcelona, also offered condolences.
Indonesia is an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands, where boats are a common form of transportation. With lax safety standards and problems with overcrowding, accidents occur frequently.
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Indonesian rescuers searched for a Spanish soccer coach and his three children on Saturday after a tour boat carrying 11 people sank overnight near Padar Island, a popular destination within Komodo National Park, officials said.The boat was carrying a family of six, four crew members and a local guide when it went down on Friday evening after suffering engine failure on a trip from Komodo Island to Padar, said Fathur Rahman, who heads the Maumere Search and Rescue Office.He said three people were rescued by a passing vessel, and four others were picked up by a search and rescue team. The survivors included the Spanish mother and one daughter. The father, two sons and another daughter were missing, he said. The Spanish soccer club Valencia said that a coach for its women’s reserve team, Fernando Martín, and three of his children were among the victims. In a statement on X, Valencia CF expressed condolences, saying their deaths were confirmed by local authorities. Real Madrid CF also offered condolences on the death of Martin, 44, and his three children. However, Rahman said the search was suspended Saturday evening because of bad weather and poor visibility and will resume early Sunday.”Our teams have been combing the northern waters of Padar Island until dusk,” Rahman said. “We are determined to find the victims.”Komodo National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site famed for its rugged landscapes, pristine beaches and the endangered Komodo dragon. The park attracts thousands of visitors for diving, trekking and wildlife tours.The survivors were treated at the port office in Labuan Bajo city as strong waves up to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) high and darkness hampered emergency responders overnight, Rahman said. The search involved multiple rescue units in inflatable boats, a navy vessel with diving equipment and a rescue ship, with the assistance of local fishermen and residents. It was centered on a 5-nautical-mile (9-kilometer) radius of the sinking site, where rescuers found the boat debris, Rahman said.Indonesia is an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands, where boats are a common form of transportation. With lax safety standards and problems with overcrowding, accidents occur frequently.
Indonesian rescuers searched for a Spanish soccer coach and his three children on Saturday after a tour boat carrying 11 people sank overnight near Padar Island, a popular destination within Komodo National Park, officials said.
The boat was carrying a family of six, four crew members and a local guide when it went down on Friday evening after suffering engine failure on a trip from Komodo Island to Padar, said Fathur Rahman, who heads the Maumere Search and Rescue Office.
He said three people were rescued by a passing vessel, and four others were picked up by a search and rescue team. The survivors included the Spanish mother and one daughter. The father, two sons and another daughter were missing, he said.
The Spanish soccer club Valencia said that a coach for its women’s reserve team, Fernando Martín, and three of his children were among the victims. In a statement on X, Valencia CF expressed condolences, saying their deaths were confirmed by local authorities. Real Madrid CF also offered condolences on the death of Martin, 44, and his three children.
However, Rahman said the search was suspended Saturday evening because of bad weather and poor visibility and will resume early Sunday.
“Our teams have been combing the northern waters of Padar Island until dusk,” Rahman said. “We are determined to find the victims.”
Komodo National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site famed for its rugged landscapes, pristine beaches and the endangered Komodo dragon. The park attracts thousands of visitors for diving, trekking and wildlife tours.
The survivors were treated at the port office in Labuan Bajo city as strong waves up to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) high and darkness hampered emergency responders overnight, Rahman said.
The search involved multiple rescue units in inflatable boats, a navy vessel with diving equipment and a rescue ship, with the assistance of local fishermen and residents. It was centered on a 5-nautical-mile (9-kilometer) radius of the sinking site, where rescuers found the boat debris, Rahman said.
Indonesia is an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands, where boats are a common form of transportation. With lax safety standards and problems with overcrowding, accidents occur frequently.
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Walter Russell Mead is the Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at Hudson Institute, the Global View Columnist at The Wall Street Journal and the Alexander Hamilton Professor of Strategy and Statecraft with the Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida.
He is also a member of Aspen Institute Italy and board member of Aspenia. Before joining Hudson, Mr. Mead was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations as the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy. He has authored numerous books, including the widely-recognized Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004). Mr. Mead’s most recent book is entitled The Arc of A Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People.
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Walter Russell Mead
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The body of 63-year-old Ricky Wooten, a fisherman missing since Oct. 15, has been recovered from the Arkansas River, authorities said.
Screen grab from KATV Facebook post
A man who went missing during a fishing trip to Pine Bluff Arsenal has been found dead, according to Arkansas officials.
Ricky Wooten, 63, checked in with his truck and boat at the area’s Plainview Gate on Oct. 15, according to a news release from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
A missing person report was filed for Wooten after he failed to return home and his daughter was unable to reach him, KATV reported.
Deputies found Wooten’s truck parked at the boat ramp and his boat “a short distance off the dock” with “freshly caught fish inside,” but no sign of Wooten, according to the release.
Investigators used “multiple boats equipped with side-scan sonar and live-scope underwater camera capabilities to scan the river,” the sheriff’s office said.
Wooten’s body was recovered shortly before 8 a.m. Oct. 16, authorities said.
“Dad has been found and unfortunately this has turned into the nightmare nobody ever wants to have,” Wooten’s daughter Amy Danielle said in an Oct. 16 Facebook post. “Dad has went to be with the Lord and is no longer suffering on this earth.”
According to the sheriff’s office, preliminary findings suggest Wooten “may have suffered a medical emergency and/or lost his footing” while trying to dock his boat.
A full autopsy will be performed to confirm an official cause of death, authorities said.
“On behalf of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, I extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Mr. Ricky Wooten,” the release read.
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Lauren Liebhaber
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The body of 63-year-old Ricky Wooten, a fisherman missing since Oct. 15, has been recovered from the Arkansas River, authorities said.
Screen grab from KATV Facebook post
A man who went missing during a fishing trip to Pine Bluff Arsenal has been found dead, according to Arkansas officials.
Ricky Wooten, 63, checked in with his truck and boat at the area’s Plainview Gate on Oct. 15, according to a news release from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
A missing person report was filed for Wooten after he failed to return home and his daughter was unable to reach him, KATV reported.
Deputies found Wooten’s truck parked at the boat ramp and his boat “a short distance off the dock” with “freshly caught fish inside,” but no sign of Wooten, according to the release.
Investigators used “multiple boats equipped with side-scan sonar and live-scope underwater camera capabilities to scan the river,” the sheriff’s office said.
Wooten’s body was recovered shortly before 8 a.m. Oct. 16, authorities said.
“Dad has been found and unfortunately this has turned into the nightmare nobody ever wants to have,” Wooten’s daughter Amy Danielle said in an Oct. 16 Facebook post. “Dad has went to be with the Lord and is no longer suffering on this earth.”
According to the sheriff’s office, preliminary findings suggest Wooten “may have suffered a medical emergency and/or lost his footing” while trying to dock his boat.
A full autopsy will be performed to confirm an official cause of death, authorities said.
“On behalf of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, I extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Mr. Ricky Wooten,” the release read.
This story was originally published October 17, 2025 at 1:37 PM.
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Lauren Liebhaber
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President Donald Trump said U.S. military strikes on five Venezuelan boats have saved more than 100,000 lives because the maneuvers thwarted drug smuggling.
“Every boat that we knock out we save 25,000 American lives so every time you see a boat and you feel badly you say, ‘Wow, that’s rough;’ It is rough, but if you lose three people and save 25,000 people,” President Donald Trump said in an Oct. 15 press conference.
The administration did not supply PolitiFact with evidence that the boats were carrying drugs. Drug experts told PolitiFact that Venezuela plays a minor role in trafficking drugs that reach the U.S. The legality of the strikes also is unclear. After the first attack, some legal experts told PolitiFact that the military action was illegal under maritime law or human rights conventions and the attack contradicted longstanding U.S. military practices.
Trump has used the figure repeatedly and also says he would consider similar strikes on land.
“Every one of those boats is responsible for the death of 25,000 American people, and the destruction of families,” Trump said in an Oct. 5 speech to U.S. Navy sailors. “So when you think of it that way, what we’re doing is actually an act of kindness.”
“We’ve taken a very hard stand on drugs … the water drugs — the drugs that come in through water they’re not coming — there are no boats anymore, frankly there are no fishing boats, there’s no boats out there period,” Trump told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Oct. 7. “We’ve probably saved at least 100,000 lives, American lives, Canadian lives, by taking out those boats.”
Several aspects of Trump’s statement make it wrong.
There is no way of knowing how many lives are saved as a result of drug interception efforts, drug experts have told PolitiFact.
Additionally, if Trump’s statement were accurate, the strikes on five boats in less than two months would have saved nearly double the number of U.S. lives lost to drug overdoses in an entire year.
The Trump administration hasn’t specified what type of drug or what quantity was on the boats that were struck. So it’s impossible to calculate how many deadly doses could have been destroyed.
Trump said the boats were carrying fentanyl during the Oct. 15 press conference.
“And you can see it, the boats get hit, and you see that fentanyl all over the ocean,” Trump said. “It’s like floating in bags. It’s all over the place.”
He has shared aerial videos of some of the boat strikes on Truth Social, and no bags of drugs are visible in the videos.
Additionally, most illicit fentanyl in the U.S. comes from Mexico, not Venezuela. It enters the U.S. mainly through the southern border at official ports of entry, and it’s smuggled in mostly by U.S. citizens, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
If the boats each carried 25,000 lethal doses, that doesn’t mean the strikes stopped 125,000 people from dying of a drug overdose.
“When drugs are seized, the supply chain partially replaces those lost drugs,” Jonathan Caulkins, a Carnegie Mellon University drug policy researcher, previously told PolitiFact.
Overdose drug deaths have been declining for the past couple of years, before there were any strikes on boats off the coast of Venezuela, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC reported more than 73,000 drug overdose deaths from May 2024 to April 2025. For Trump’s statement to be accurate, the drugs on five boats would have been responsible for 125,000 deaths, nearly double the number of overdose deaths in one year.
Trump isn’t the first person to equate drug enforcement with saving lives. Over the years, we’ve fact-checked other politicians when they said that a quantity of drugs seized at the U.S. border was enough to kill a specific number of people, or that those seizures saved a specific number of lives.
Generally, the politicians we have fact-checked referred to fentanyl seizures. The synthetic opioid is the leading cause of U.S. overdose deaths. Politicians’ statements about lives saved rely on the lethal dose for fentanyl — 2 milligrams. So if authorities seized 10 milligrams of fentanyl, for example, that saved five lives, politicians say.
But there are caveats to that calculation because a dose’s lethality can vary based on a person’s height, weight and tolerance from past exposure, drug experts say. And statistics about how many drugs were stopped from entering the U.S. don’t account for how many drugs make it into the country.
“We don’t have any method I’m aware of for translating drug seizure data into any measure of overdose deaths averted,” Alene Kennedy-Hendricks, a Johns Hopkins University health policy expert, told PolitiFact in May.
Regarding boat strikes off the coast of Venezuela, Trump said, “Every boat that we knock out we save 25,000 American lives.”
Trump said the five boats the U.S. military has struck off the coast of Venezuela were carrying drugs heading to the U.S. However, experts on drugs and Venezuela told PolitiFact the country plays a minor role in trafficking drugs that reach the U.S.
The administration has provided no evidence about the type or quantity of drugs it says were on the boats. This lack of information makes it impossible to know how many lethal doses of the drugs could have been destroyed.
Even if the boats were carrying 25,000 lethal drug doses each, that doesn’t mean that destroying them saved 125,000 lives. There were 73,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths from May 2024 to April 2025. That means the drugs on five boats would have been responsible for 125,000 deaths, nearly double the number of U.S. overdose deaths in one year.
The amount of drugs that are stopped from entering the U.S. doesn’t indicate how many lives were saved.
We rate Trump’s statement Pants on Fire!
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Last week, David Adler posted what he said would be his final communication from aboard a boat sailing toward Gaza carrying medical supplies, food and other aid.
The Southern Californian wrote that the previous night several Israeli naval ships had “menaced” the convoy of some 40 boats.
“They attacked our vessels, intimidated our crew, and disabled our communications,” he said in the Oct. 1 post.
Soon after, his regular messages to his parents, who live in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Encino, and to his older sister and brother stopped.
The 33-year-old co-founder of left-wing political organization Progressive International was among more than 450 peace activists, medical workers and other volunteers on the convoy known as the Gaza Sumud Flotilla who were detained late last week after Israeli naval forces intercepted the boats in international waters.
His family said they had not been able to reach him since Oct. 1, but learned about a day later that he had been taken to Ashdod, a major cargo port in Israel, and then transferred to Ketziot prison in the Negev Desert.
“I haven’t been able to talk to him, I don’t know what kind of shape he’s in, and that makes me really scared,” said Ruth Kremen, Adler’s mother.
A group of California Democrats urged the State Department in a letter Monday to facilitate the release of several Californians and other detained U.S. citizens.
“The U.S. has an obligation to protect its citizens abroad and must act immediately,” they said in the letter, which was signed by 24 congressional representatives and other officials and sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “We call on you to work for [their] immediate and safe release, including arranging the logistics of a plane to ensure their speedy recovery.”
In recent days, hundreds of flotilla activists who were detained, including prominent Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were deported from Israel and flown to Athens. But only a few American participants have been released, with 21 remaining in Israeli custody as of Monday, according to the letter.
Besides Adler, those detained included three other Californians: internet celebrity Tommy Marcus, who is based in the Los Angeles area; Geraldine Ramirez, from Cathedral City in the Coachella Valley; and Logan Hollarsmith, of San Francisco.
California Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), who was among the letter’s signatories, told The Times that he had heard that Americans would be released in the next day or so. But without clear arrangements from the U.S. State Department, they might be transported by land to neighboring Jordan, even as other countries have arranged for flights to bring their citizens home, he said.
“What I have heard from families is frustration,” Khanna said. “This is a priority for the California delegation — to make sure our constituents are returned safely. And we are putting pressure on Israel to do that.”
The U.S. State Department did not respond to a request for comment from The Times but said in statements to other news outlets that it takes its “commitment to assist U.S. citizens seriously and [is] monitoring the situation.”
“The flotilla is a deliberate and unnecessary provocation. We are currently focused on realizing President Trump’s plan to end the war, which has been universally welcomed as a historic opportunity for a lasting peace,” the State Department has said.
The core vessels in the Gaza Sumud Flotilla set sail from Barcelona, Spain, more than a month ago with volunteers from dozens of countries to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel’s two-year-long siege on the strip of land has killed more than 60,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel’s bombing campaign and its months-long blockade have triggered famine in Gaza , authorities say, and garnered accusations from a U.N. commission of inquiry and international legal bodies that the U.S. ally is carrying out genocide. Israel has rejected the claim as “distorted and false,” and contends the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked Israel’s war in Gaza was itself a genocidal act. About 1,200 people were killed in that attack and 251 were taken hostage.
Although Adler’s family was supportive of his cause, his mother and sister said they had tried to dissuade him from joining the flotilla, fearing for his safety — knowing that in an Israeli raid of a flotilla in 2010, 10 activists were killed, including a Turkish American, and dozens of others were injured.
“Both of us trusted him to do what he thought was right, and are very proud of him for what he did, but the anxiety level has been very high, absolutely,” Adler’s father, Paul, said.
Adler, who is Jewish, wrote in a piece for the Nation that his grandfather joined the Parisian resistance against the Nazis, and that he draws from his heritage in his rationale for joining the flotilla.
“I joined this flotilla just like any other delegate — to defend humanity, before it is too late. But on Yom Kippur, I am reminded that I am also here because my Jewish heritage demands it,” Adler wrote.
Adler’s sister Laura, who lives in Connecticut, said there were 24 hours when the family didn’t know his fate.
“It sounds silly to say you’re relieved to find out that your brother is in a prison, but I was relieved to learn at least that he was physically safe,” she said. “I just don’t understand why our country, which is Israel’s biggest supporter, can’t be more assertive in protecting its citizens abroad.”
Family members said that, because Adler acquired nationality in France and Australia through his father, they received some information about his condition from reports compiled by representatives in those countries. By contrast, details from the U.S. government have been lacking, the family said.
Another Southern Californian is among those on a second convoy of about 10 boats that set sail last week.
L.A.-based independent journalist and human rights researcher Emily Wilder is on board to document the flotilla effort for news outlet Jewish Currents. She said that “as a passenger on a ship in the same trajectory toward Gaza… toward a possible capture by Israeli forces,” she was “really concerned about the people that have been taken and are currently in Israeli custody.”
“But of course, a mission like this is inherently risky,” Wilder said.
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Suhauna Hussain
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Two humpback whales came dangerously close to a boat off the coast of New Hampshire on Tuesday.An exclusive video sent to News 9 shows the whales breaching before one surfaced for air and swam directly under the vessel. Captain Dale Sprague and his first mate, Matt Hamilton, said they were haddock fishing about six or seven miles past the Isles of Shoals when they spotted the whales.”Just really kind of bottom fishing, so sitting around, and whales were all over the place, and then they started to get a little bit closer, it seemed,” Hamilton said.Both said they have seen whales before, but being this close was rattling.”Pretty good-sized whale jumping to the right of us. And then as that one landed, another one kind of to the left, very close to the boat. And then as we looked behind, we could see one kind of coming at us. And that’s when I got a little freaked out,” Hamilton said. The fishermen’s boat was a fraction of the whale’s size. “That whale seemed to be about probably three times the size of what we had,” Sprague said. The team quickly pulled in their lines and moved farther away. “It definitely will rattle you, to go get some life jackets and think about what can actually happen,” Sprague said. Experts said seeing humpbacks breach is rare.”You’re considered lucky if you see it,” said Ashley Stokes, director of Marine Mammal Conservation. “They’ll sometimes do it as a method of play and then on top of that, they may also be doing it to rid themselves of parasites or skin irritants.”While breaching is not a sign of aggression, Stokes advises anyone out on the water to stay aware of whales in the area.Despite the close encounter, Sprague and Hamilton said it won’t keep them off the water.Last July, a humpback whale crashed into a boat in Portsmouth Harbor. Both of the fishermen on board had to be rescued by people nearby. They were uninjured.
Two humpback whales came dangerously close to a boat off the coast of New Hampshire on Tuesday.
An exclusive video sent to News 9 shows the whales breaching before one surfaced for air and swam directly under the vessel.
Captain Dale Sprague and his first mate, Matt Hamilton, said they were haddock fishing about six or seven miles past the Isles of Shoals when they spotted the whales.
“Just really kind of bottom fishing, so sitting around, and whales were all over the place, and then they started to get a little bit closer, it seemed,” Hamilton said.
Both said they have seen whales before, but being this close was rattling.
“Pretty good-sized whale jumping to the right of us. And then as that one landed, another one kind of to the left, very close to the boat. And then as we looked behind, we could see one kind of coming at us. And that’s when I got a little freaked out,” Hamilton said.
The fishermen’s boat was a fraction of the whale’s size.
“That whale seemed to be about probably three times the size of what we had,” Sprague said.
The team quickly pulled in their lines and moved farther away.
“It definitely will rattle you, to go get some life jackets and think about what can actually happen,” Sprague said.
Experts said seeing humpbacks breach is rare.
“You’re considered lucky if you see it,” said Ashley Stokes, director of Marine Mammal Conservation. “They’ll sometimes do it as a method of play and then on top of that, they may also be doing it to rid themselves of parasites or skin irritants.”
While breaching is not a sign of aggression, Stokes advises anyone out on the water to stay aware of whales in the area.
Despite the close encounter, Sprague and Hamilton said it won’t keep them off the water.
Last July, a humpback whale crashed into a boat in Portsmouth Harbor.
Both of the fishermen on board had to be rescued by people nearby. They were uninjured.
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