The Canadian military will continue participating in American-led counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean Sea, despite the Trump administration’s recent actions and statements signalling a loss of faith in the effectiveness of drug interdiction efforts in the region. The deadly U.S. military strike last week on an alleged drug boat marked a dramatic departure from its longstanding approach of intercepting suspect vessels and seizing illicit cargo. Spokespersons for the Department of National Defence say officials are continuously monitoring the developments in the Caribbean, including the recent buildup of U.S. military forces near Venezuela, but Canada will not significantly alter its mission in the region. For nearly two decades, Canada has sent warships and aircraft to help the U.S. patrol the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean for suspected drug traffickers as part of what the military calls Operation Caribbe. “The Canadian Armed Forces are aware of the evolving situation in the Caribbean and will take all steps necessary to ensure that its activities in the region, including under Op Caribbe, are conducted in accordance with applicable Canadian and international law,” said Alex Tétreault, a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence, in an emailed statement this week. ‘No impact’ on Op Caribbe In 2010, the U.S. and Canada signed an agreement to expand their partnership by allowing U.S. coast guard teams to operate from Canadian warships to interdict vessels and arrest suspected smugglers. Canada’s contribution to the interdiction effort has disrupted more than 120 tonnes of cocaine shipments over the past decade and a half, according to National Defence. But the recent U.S. strike that killed 11 people aboard a speedboat that U.S. officials say was ferrying drugs across the Caribbean was a significant break from the norm of using law enforcement to conduct the operations. The U.S. military forces in the Caribbean, including those that would have carried out the attack, are not acting as part of the wider anti-trafficking operation that Canada is involved in. “Therefore, it will have no impact on the next iteration of Op Caribbe,” said National Defence spokesperson Kened Sadiku in a separate email. ‘Interdiction doesn’t work’ The most recent deployment for Operation Caribbe concluded in early July, when HMCS William Hall returned to Halifax after contributing to the seizure of approximately 1,545 kilograms of cocaine in the Caribbean. The next deployment is scheduled for early 2026, but recent comments by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggest official disillusionment with the whack-a-mole approach to drug seizures in the region. “The United States has long – for many, many years – established intelligence that allows us to interdict and stop drug boats. We did that and it doesn’t work,” Rubio told a news conference in Mexico City on Sept. 3. “Interdiction doesn’t work because these drug cartels, what they do is they know they’re going to lose, you know, two per cent of their cargo, they bake it into their economics. What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.” National Defence did not respond to direct questions about whether it believes vessel interdictions and seizures are still effective at combating drug trafficking in the Caribbean. The department deferred questions about the practice to the Canadian Joint Operations Command, which deliberated on the issue for days but ultimately could not provide a response before publication. Partnership ‘probably more relevant’ now David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, says he does not expect the U.S. to entirely abandon Caribbean drug interdictions in favour of a militarized approach, despite Rubio’s statements to the contrary. “The U.S. was pressuring Canada to massively increase our interdiction efforts along the border between Canada and the United States when it came to narcotics, so I guess it’s difficult for me to think that there’s any scenario where the U.S. gets out of interdiction holistically,” Perry said. “I think it’s a question of potentially pursuing other lines of activity, but also keeping up their interdiction efforts,” he added. “All of that together would say that the collaboration that Canada has had for a long time on Op Caribbe is probably more relevant to the U.S. administration now than it might have been in the past.” The U.S. government has maintained that those killed in its attack on the boat last week belonged to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that Washington designated a terrorist organization in February. In a co-ordinated move, the Canadian government issued the same terror-group designation on the same day, adding Tren de Aragua and six other criminal organizations from South and Central America to its list of known terrorist entities. “Their drug trafficking activities are a risk to our national security and must be stopped using all tools available,” Public Safety Canada said in a Feb. 20 news release announcing the additions. On Thursday, Venezuela’s interior minister said none of the 11 people killed in the U.S. military strike were members of the Tren de Aragua gang or drug traffickers.
