Last month, a U.S. military airstrike in the Caribbean turned a drug smuggling operation into a chaotic scene. As a speedboat approached the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, the strike killed three people on board, scattering over 375 packages of cocaine across the turquoise waters, according to Dominican authorities.
Among the wreckage and floating contraband, dozens of cocaine packages were clearly marked with a distinctive red wrapping and the brand name ‘MEN’ in bold, black and white letters, as revealed by photos from the Dominican anti-narcotics agency.
The 1,000 kilograms of cocaine retrieved from that single incident pushed the Dominican Republic’s total seizures for the year to nearly 19,000 kilograms. This already record-breaking haul highlights the immense volume of narcotics moving through the region, even before the increased presence of U.S. warships.
The Trump administration, labeling drug-trafficking cartels as terrorists, has dramatically escalated its response by destroying speedboats in the Caribbean. This aggressive stance brings renewed attention to an illicit trade that has funneled tons of cocaine into the United States for decades.
While the Caribbean has historically served as a crucial corridor for illicit trade — from people to drugs and weapons — its heyday as the primary cocaine route of the 1980s, famously depicted in shows like ‘Miami Vice’ with Colombian cartels dominating shipments to South Florida, has long passed.
However, evolving enforcement tactics have frequently seen the region reclaim its role as a key transit point for illegal commodities, with a noticeable shift towards Europe, where the demand for cocaine and its market price fetch higher returns.
Despite the Trump administration’s narrative painting the Caribbean and Venezuela as primary arteries for drugs impacting American lives, official data from the U.S. and United Nations consistently show that the bulk of maritime drug trafficking destined for the United States actually takes place in the Pacific Ocean.
Nevertheless, experts confirm the Caribbean remains a vital node for Colombian cocaine trafficking, with some shipments transiting through Venezuela. Interestingly, this region is not a significant route for fentanyl, a drug that was a major concern for President Trump prior to the recent boat strikes.
As the Trump administration tightened its grip on the U.S. southern border and saturated the Caribbean with military resources, drug traffickers from Colombia, the world’s leading cocaine producer, have been compelled to innovate. Experts and law enforcement confirm they are constantly devising new strategies to funnel drugs to eager markets worldwide.
The typical route involves moving narcotics from Colombia to various Caribbean nations such as Trinidad, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. Here, the drugs are often repackaged and prepped for onward shipment. The specific criminal organization often dictates a complex ‘island-hopping’ scheme before the drugs are loaded onto high-speed boats or concealed within commercial container ships destined for their final markets.
A growing trend among smugglers is to exploit legitimate cargo vessels in the Caribbean. This method presents a significant challenge for interception, as illicit drugs are cleverly camouflaged among legal shipments like fresh produce.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the intensified U.S. crackdown has triggered a noticeable shift: a senior anti-narcotics official, speaking anonymously, revealed a sharp increase in illegal flights from South America. These flights drop bales of drugs into the sea, where larger vessels await to retrieve them, avoiding direct engagement with U.S. forces.
Across other parts of the Caribbean, the deployment of U.S. warships has yielded diverse results in the ongoing battle against drug trafficking.
For instance, a senior Dominican government official, preferring anonymity, noted a dramatic reduction in observed drug boats at sea within their waters.
Meanwhile, in Jamaica, anti-narcotics officials report that drug dealers are now opting to transport smaller quantities. This strategy aims to mitigate financial losses should their illicit cargo be intercepted and seized.
Patrae Rowe, head of Jamaica’s Firearms and Narcotics Investigation Division, confirmed these strategic adaptations: ‘We are seeing changes in modus operandi. More covert means are being used to transship drugs,’ citing examples like concealing narcotics within legitimate food shipments.
One undeniable fact stands out: the global cocaine supply has reached unprecedented levels. The U.S. Coast Guard’s seizures on the high seas illustrate this, with nearly 175,000 kilograms (approximately 193 tons) confiscated in the fiscal year ending September – more than double the previous year’s total. A significant portion, around 64 tons, was interdicted in the Caribbean alone.
The Coast Guard, whose standard procedure involves intercepting smuggling vessels, seizing contraband, and detaining suspects, emphasized that their primary enforcement efforts continue to be concentrated in the Pacific. They declined to provide further comments for this report.
Mr. Rowe also highlighted a consistent increase in cocaine seizures in Jamaica over the past five years. In 2024, authorities confiscated over 2,508 kilograms, with a substantial portion recovered from a single, large-scale smuggling operation.
During the 1980s, the Caribbean was undeniably the principal conduit for drug trafficking into the United States. Powerful Colombian cartels, led by figures like Pablo Escobar, operated highly sophisticated networks that managed the entire supply chain, from cultivating coca plants to dispatching high-speed boats laden with cocaine to Miami.
This dynamic underwent a significant transformation roughly two decades ago, as the drug trade largely rerouted to overland routes through Mexico to reach the U.S. However, experts note that intensified counternarcotics efforts in Mexico over the last decade have inadvertently redirected some of this cocaine trafficking back to the Caribbean.
Amid a surge in global cocaine production and escalating demand worldwide, traffickers have increasingly sought out more lucrative overseas markets. This has revitalized the Caribbean’s role as a transit point for drugs heading to destinations like Rotterdam, Europe’s busiest port, and even as far afield as Australia and South Africa.
Modern cartels have also evolved their operational strategy, fragmenting core tasks like cultivation, storage, and transportation across multiple, interconnected organizations. This decentralization makes it considerably more challenging for law enforcement to dismantle entire smuggling networks.
In Trinidad, for instance, local drug kingpins are reportedly responsible for managing logistics and security, according to an unnamed anti-narcotics official.
The same official revealed a stark increase in unauthorized flights originating from Colombia toward Caribbean islands, directly correlating with the presence of eight U.S. Navy warships in the region. What used to be five illegal flights in a morning has now tripled to fifteen.
These airborne deliveries often involve dropping drug bales into the sea, where they are later retrieved by larger vessels like yachts or commercial cargo ships – a tactic chosen because U.S. forces are not targeting such large vessels.
Further evidence of this aerial drop strategy comes from recent weeks: bales of cocaine found washed ashore in Trinidad and other islands were conspicuously packaged with ropes and hooks, clearly indicating they were meant to be retrieved from the water.
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, several substantial cocaine packages were found, some ingeniously wrapped in white tarps. These tarps misleadingly listed ‘vitamin ingredients’ and proudly bore the label ‘Industria Colombiana’.
Since early September, the Trump administration has reported destroying at least four high-speed ‘go-fast’ boats and causing 21 fatalities. While administration officials claimed, without providing substantiation, that these vessels were smuggling drugs for ‘narco-terrorists’ threatening U.S. security, legal experts broadly contend that such attacks contravene international law.
The military assaults were justified by the administration based on the alarming number of overdose deaths in the United States. However, the majority of these fatalities are attributed to fentanyl, a substance not typically trafficked through Caribbean routes.
The first reported destruction occurred near Trinidad on September 2nd. A second vessel was eliminated on September 19th, approximately 80 miles south of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic, in what was termed a joint U.S. and Dominican Republic operation.
The Dominican Republic is widely recognized as a significant transshipment point for drugs, with the majority of narcotics flowing out through its commercial ports.
The Dominican Foreign Ministry reports staggering figures: almost 225,000 kilograms (248 tons) of drugs have been seized within the last five years alone.
Estimates vary regarding the percentage of U.S.-bound cocaine that transits through the Caribbean, with some experts suggesting it could be as low as 10 percent.
Lilian Bobea, a sociologist at Fitchburg State University specializing in the illicit drug industry, observed that a combination of increased U.S. pressure on Mexico and rising global consumption is ‘making the Caribbean very relevant again’ as a drug route.
Currently, a kilogram of cocaine in the Caribbean fetches approximately $3,000. While early signs suggest the Trump administration’s military surge is driving up prices, experts caution that the full economic impact won’t be clear for several months.
Despite these efforts, many experts remain skeptical, believing that U.S. naval presence alone will likely have minimal impact on such a profoundly lucrative market.
Alberto Arean Varela, a regional coordinator for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, starkly summarized the situation: ‘There is an overproduction of cocaine in the producing countries. There’s more to smuggle.’
He added, with a sense of grim reality, ‘We cannot stop using drugs.’
Prior Beharry contributed reporting from Port of Spain, Trinidad.