NYT: US intelligence falls short in Latin America despite military strikes

US intelligence capabilities in Latin America are far from flawless, though the U.S. military may indeed have targeted boats carrying narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.

Some individuals familiar with the intelligence-gathering methods say they have no doubt that the boats struck by US forces were transporting drugs, The New York Times (NYT) reports, citing government officials.

However, officials acknowledge that intelligence on Latin America is flawed, the newspaper writes.

US authorities admit they know less than they would like about Venezuela’s prison-based criminal organisation Tren de Aragua, which President Donald Trump claims is controlled by the Venezuelan government — a statement that contradicts existing intelligence, according to the newspaper.

The information that led to the US strikes in the Caribbean was reportedly collected not by the CIA, but by the military, including the National Security Agency (NSA).

The NYT explains that the evidence confirming the boats were indeed carrying drugs remains inconsistent and incomplete. Trump claimed that after one of the strikes, bags of cocaine and fentanyl were seen floating among the wreckage, but as the newspaper points out, fentanyl is typically trafficked from Mexico rather than Venezuela or Colombia, and its shipments are difficult to trace.

Authorities also cited intercepted communications between traffickers. However, the paper notes that criminals often use coded language, which can be easily misinterpreted — recalling how, in the 2000s, US officials misread intercepted Iraqi military communications as evidence of weapons of mass destruction, which were never found after the invasion.

Additionally, the crews of the boats targeted by US forces may have included not only Venezuelans but also citizens of other countries, and some vessels might have been carrying illegal migrants.

While the Pentagon has emphasised that the recent strikes are part of an intensified campaign against transnational narcotics networks, the US government has released few concrete details about how it determined that the targeted vessels were indeed involved in drug trafficking.

Officials have not disclosed the nature of the intercepted communications or physical evidence collected from the wreckage, nor have they provided information about the individuals killed in the operations.

According to multiple reports, up to 40 people have been killed in these strikes across the Caribbean and Pacific.

As questions mount over the legality and transparency of the operations, analysts argue that the lack of verifiable intelligence and civilian casualty assessments could further strain US relations with Latin American governments. 

By Jeyhun Aghazada