Unpublished DEA assessment says traffickers have adapted their tactics while supply and prices remain unchanged.

On Monday, The Washington Post published an article showing that attacks on small boats allegedly carrying drugs have failed to slow the flow of cocaine into the United States.

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The outlet cited an unpublished assessment in which the Drug Enforcement Administration warned that the strikes have not affected the supply or price of cocaine and have instead prompted criminal groups to develop new strategies and tactics for transporting drugs.

Drug traffickers have stopped using speedboats in their operations, which now avoid international waters in favor of larger vessels and routes closer to the coast, where they are less likely to be targeted by U.S. forces.

During a closed-door briefing, Pentagon officials told lawmakers that the attacks had not reduced the purity of the drug. Instead of using boats, drug traffickers have increased their use of aircraft departing from clandestine airstrips along the Colombian border and flying east through Guyana and Suriname in an effort to evade U.S. forces, according to the DEA assessment.

“When you squeeze a balloon on one side, it always expands on the other. They always find the weak points and exploit them,” a DEA official said on condition of anonymity.

In September 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump launched Operation Southern Spear against drug trafficking, first in the Caribbean and later in the eastern Pacific. So far, the operation has targeted 67 small boats and resulted in the deaths of 221 people.

The United Nations and international human rights defenders have described the attacks as “extrajudicial executions” and have alleged that the victims include fishermen and fuel smugglers.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told The Washington Post that Operation Southern Spear was achieving its objective and that “transnational criminal organizations have continuously adapted their tactics” for decades.

“That does not indicate that the pressure is ineffective. It demonstrates that we are imposing systemic friction on their operations,” he justified.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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