In September, the U.S. targeted vessels that Trump said were manned by members of the Venezuelan cartel Tren De Aragua, which he claims is under the control of Venezuela's Maduro. (A claim reportedly at odds with an assessment by U.S. analysts.) Since then, the U.S. military has been placing warships, fighter jets, marines, and drones, along with other surveillance and intelligence-gathering equipment, in the Caribbean Sea. The Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier has also arrived in the Latin American region. Venezuela is now building up its own defense plan, should the U.S. strike. But Trump has expressed doubts that the U.S. will engage in a full-out war with the South American country.

“I doubt it. I don't think so. But they've been treating us very badly,” Trump told CBS' 60 Minutes in early November, when asked if the U.S. was heading to war with Venezuela. He went on to claim that "every single boat that you see that's shot down kills 25,000 on drugs and destroys families all over our country."

When asked if the U.S. is planning any on-land strikes, Trump didn’t rule out the possibility, instead saying: "I wouldn't be inclined to say that I would do that... I'm not gonna tell you what I'm gonna do with Venezuela, if I was gonna do it, or if I wasn't going to do it."

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, meanwhile, has accused the U.S. of "fabricating a new war."

Trump’s policy on targeting alleged drug vessels has drawn plenty of criticism and concern, even from within his own party.

Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana has said he is "troubled by many aspects and assumptions of this operation and believe it is at odds with the majority of Americans who want the U.S. military less entangled in international conflicts." Explaining his concerns, he went on to add that "the strategic objective of militarizing a ‘War on Drugs’ is unclear at best and, while not currently desired or contemplated, these operations could conceivably lead to direct military conflict with Venezuela or even operations inside the United States."

Despite the growing concern, in early November, the Senate voted down a measure that would have required congressional approval for military action by Trump against Venezuela.

Elsewhere, the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, has condemned the boat strikes.

“These attacks—and their mounting human cost—are unacceptable. The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them,” said Türk on Oct. 31, adding that the strikes have “no justification in international law.”

The Trump Administration’s actions are also sparking concern and condemnation further afield and some countries have now suspended—or curtailed—part of their intelligence sharing with the U.S.

Colombia

Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued a statement on Tuesday, stating his intention to direct all public security forces to “suspend the sending of communications and other dealings with U.S. security agencies” in response to the strikes.

“Such a measure will be maintained as long as the missile attack on boats in the Caribbean persists,” said Petro. “The fight against drugs must be subordinated to the human rights of the Caribbean people.”

TIME has reached out to Petro’s office for further comment and details on the order.

Colombia shares a border with Venezuela, and Petro has been vocal in his disapproval of the U.S. military's strikes against vessels in the Caribbean and the U.S.’ growing presence in those waters.

The two Presidents have engaged in a bitter back-and-forth.

In October, Trump announced that the U.S. will cut aid to Colombia, arguing that Petro “does nothing to stop” drug production. Speaking about Colombia to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump doubled down, claiming: “They don't have a fight against drugs—they make drugs.” He has also called Petro an "illegal drug leader.”

Colombia recalled its U.S. ambassador amid the raised tensions.

In addition to criticising the U.S.’ actions in the Caribbean Sea, Petro has also condemned the Trump Administration’s crackdown on immigration and the ICE raids, accusing Trump of “unleashing an ethnic war in the USA.”

When Hegseth in October announced that the U.S. had struck a vessel associated with a Colombian rebel group, Petro accused the U.S. of killing a Colombian fisherman who “had no ties to the drug trade.”

The Colombian President met with the family of the man last week and later told the public: “They are neither terrorists nor drug traffickers. [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio and Trump are completely wrong.”

The Treasury Department has announced sanctions on Petro and “his support network,” accusing the Colombian leader of complicity in Colombia’s drug trade.

“President Petro has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity. Today, President Trump is taking strong action to protect our nation and make clear that we will not tolerate the trafficking of drugs into our nation,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Oct. 24.

United Kingdom

One of the closest allies of the U.S., the U.K. has reportedly suspended sharing some intelligence with the Pentagon due to concern over the boat strikes in the Caribbean, according to CNN.

The U.K does not want to be complicit in U.S. military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, a source familiar with the situation is cited as telling the publication. The pause in intelligence, which has usually been shared with Florida’s Joint Interagency Task Force South, reportedly began over a month ago.

The U.K. has a number of overseas territories in the Caribbean where it houses bases of intelligence gathering.

In response to a request for comment from TIME, a U.K. government spokesperson said on Wednesday: “It is our longstanding policy to not comment on intelligence matters.”

They went on to say that the “U.S. is our closest ally on security and intelligence. We continue to work together to uphold global peace and security, defend freedom of navigation, and respond to emerging threats.”

A War Department official from the Pentagon similarly told TIME: “We don’t discuss intelligence matters.”

Another key U.S. ally—Canada—is also reportedly distancing itself from the boat strikes, according to the same CNN report. Canada intends to continue its partnership with the Coast Guard (Operation Caribbean), but the country has made clear to the U.S. that it does not want its intelligence being used to help target boats for deadly strikes, a source is quoted as telling CNN.

TIME has reached out to Canada’s Department of National Defence for comment.

The Netherlands

While not explicitly related to the strikes conducted in the Caribbean, Dutch intelligence officials have previously said they are restricting sharing information with U.S. counterparts over concerns of the “politicization of intelligence,” amid fears that such intelligence could be used in relation to “human rights violations.”

“Sometimes you have to think on a case‑by‑case basis: can I still share this information or not?" said Erik Akerboom—director-general of the AIVD, the General Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands—in an interview with Dutch outlet De Volkskrant on Oct. 18. “We cannot say what we do or do not share. But we are more critical.”

>>1457161
Who benefits from this besides military contractors?

>>1457171
Drug producers, users and sellers.
Good thing foreigners love protecting cartels and drug smugglers.

>>1457186
Foreigners don't like being party to the murders of random fishermen.

>>1457215
>Fishermen=drug smugglers
OK. How do we even know that Ukraine is bombing Russians? They could just be bombing random drunks.

>>1457220
I know that Russia is bombing Ukrainians. What evidence do you have that these boats have any drugs on them?

Oh, and even if they are 100% confirmed drug smugglers, what the US is doing is still a war crime under international law regardless because drug smuggling civilians aren't combatants you can just annihilate without consequence.

>>1457223
>I know that Russia is bombing Ukrainians.
How?
>what the US is doing is still a war crime under international law
We've been bombing shit for decades. What constitutes a combatant?

>>1457223
>What evidence do you have that these boats have any drugs on them?
Like this? https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/dominican-republic-says-it-recovered-cocaine-that-was-on-speedboat-destroyed-by-u-s-military

>>1457227
Ok so, 1 out of... what is it now, 14? And only provided hard confirmation two months after the fact.

You know if a cop shot 14 people, claimed they were gang members, and only two months later was it proven ONE of them was proven post-mortem, that guy would get the chair.

>>1457224
>We've been bombing shit for decades. What constitutes a combatant?
https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/combatants

>>1457228
My favorite one is the drug smuggling submersible/submarine they damaged and recovered the survivors, and the Colombian president said the submarine was full of fishmermen

>>1457224
>What constitutes a combatant?
Not people not connected to an armed conflict we are a party to in ships flagged to countries we aren't at war with that have no weapons capable of threatening any of our persons or soil.

By the way, if suspected drug runners are combatants, jack shit says you have to engage combatants in international waters. We've got plenty of drug runners at home. And I somehow doubt you want a universe where the house you're driving past could get hellfire missiled out of nowhere with you as acceptable collateral damage.

>>1457161
>ritain, Colombia, and the Netherlands cut intelligence-sharing with America due to illegal strikes
Seems like they will lose more than we will.

>>1457233
>Not people not connected to an armed conflict we are a party to in ships flagged to countries we aren't at war with that have no weapons capable of threatening any of our persons or soil.
Uh? Then why have we been bombing foreign countries for decades?
Member when Mexican cartels took over Mexico? Wasn't that long ago.
Your drug dealer boyfriend will never care about you, Sue.
>International waters
Source?

>>1457224
>We've been bombing shit for decades
That's exactly the problem.

>>1457278
But drug smugglers are the line that shouldn't be crossed, huh?

>>1457281
why are you so allergic to the truth shill anon

>>1457287
The truth about what? Griping about everything, absolutely everything, that gRumpf does?
I'm sick of the endless grumblng about gRumpf in a way.
In another, even if he kills me personally I'll still be voting for him in 2028 just to piss off EVERY SINGLE faggot that dropped every ounce of ideological consistency and ruined every single bit of integrity they had to grrsist grrRumpf.
And by that I mean, "Fuck you".

>>1457290
you can't vote, you're not american as we all know

>>1457292
Sauce?

>>1457296
your incessant faggotry

>>1457297
Yea, I'm a Canadian and my Canadian fagdar recognizes another fellow leaf.
Now that this Epstein stuff is getting even hotter, Trump's going to be at war with Venezuela, blowing up mom and pop small fishing boats left and right, offering everybody $2,000 and building another story on top of the White House

>>1457278
>Implying this is a problem
There are 7 billion subhuman browns and asians on the planet and some few thousands being bombed every year. If this is a problem, someone is going to have to come up with an alternative method to de-browning the planet, we can't exactly let them overrun civilization and drag humanity back into the dark ages.

>>1457543
>Brown spaz out anon appears again
Go away little schizo, shoo. Adults are talking.

>>1457230
So why the fuck did the yanks return those survivors without laying any charges whatsoever? Perhaps it's because they sent all the fucking evidence against them to the bottom of the ocean?

So cool that we're ruining our country to appease the ego of a child rapist.

>>1457736
Keep repeating it, maybe something will change.