The militarized absurd on the high seas
I’ve got to tell you. Something just flipped. On October 22, 2025-yesterday evening, almost-Donald Trump ordered the execution of nine ships in four weeks. Nine ships. In international waters. Without a declaration of war. Without Congressional authorization. Without trial. Without tangible proof. And every time, the same thirty-second black-and-white video: a boat floating. An explosion. Floating debris. « Enemy vanquished. Farewell. » And that’s it. That’s all there is to it. Thirty-seven people dead. Thirty-seven. That number. You’ve got to understand it. It’s not a statistic. These are lives. Men’s lives. Maybe families. Trump compares them to « al-Qaeda », to « narco-terrorists » who deserve « no refuge » and « no pardon ». Just execution. Just justice. According to him. But how? How can you kill thirty-seven people and claim, without trembling, that they were drug dealers? How? I ask because no one seems able to answer. The Pentagon refuses to provide details. The videos show no cargo. No documents. No concrete evidence. Nothing. Just the U.S. government’s assurance: « Trust us. They were smugglers. » And now the boats are burning. And now no one can contradict them. Because they’re dead. Because there is no court. No appeals. No rights. Just a gun. Just an explosion. Just the silence that follows. What strikes me most-and listen carefully-is the incredible normalization of the abnormal. The media covers it like it’s an event. Politicians denounce it with sweet words. Legal experts talk about legal gray areas. But nobody. Nobody screams. No one stops the boats as they come in. No one says no. The only leader who dares-truly dares-is Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia. And Trump calls him a « loser », a « drug dealer », cuts off his military aid, threatens him publicly. « Watch it, » he wrote on his networks. Watch it. Take a good look. Because I’m capable of anything. Able to destroy an allied government. Able to stop arms shipments. Able to wipe you out. That’s the message. That’s what we’ve just seen. And that’s what should terrify you, not the lack of evidence. That’s what should wake you up
Nine strikes. Four weeks. A vertiginous escalation
First the Caribbean, then the Pacific breakthrough
It began in silence. September 2, 2025. A first boat. Then a second. Then a third. All in the Caribbean. All off Venezuela. Trump was talking about the war on drugs, about fentanyl ravaging the U.S., about « 25,000 Americans dying every year » because of trafficking. And technically-legally-he had a point. The Mexican cartels are flooding America. It’s true, they are. Fentanyl kills massively. It’s documented. But here’s the thing: the boats he’s forwarding aren’t from Mexico. They operate in the Caribbean. They sail in international waters. They are transporting-according to Trump-cocaine to North America. And Trump has decided « no ». No more laws. No more borders. No more procedures. That death by air would be the only answer. The first few weeks? Hardly anyone noticed. The right-wing media applauded. » Trump is serious about the cartels, » they proclaimed. The left-wing media cried despotism. Both sides used the same event to validate opposing narratives. But no one was really stopping. And then-Tuesday, October 21-a first. Trump orders a strike in the Pacific. First time. Second ocean. Same logic. Same video. Same lack of evidence. Two deaths. And then the next day, Wednesday October 22, a ninth strike. Three more dead. Total in forty-eight hours: five dead. In three days: nine strikes. Nine strikes. It’s exponential. It’s a logic of growth. It’s the silent promise that it’s going to accelerate, that it’s going to intensify, that the Pacific was just the beginning. Trump even declared-textually-that he was « totally ready » to expand operations on land. On land. Get it? From air-strike on the coasts to land operations. To all-out, declared war. To massive military intervention in Latin America. « If the expansion goes to land, we can go back to Congress, » he said with terrified casualness. Maybe we can. As if that would change anything. As if the Republican Congress would tell him no
Trump’s calculation: scare more than stop
Because here’s what’s really at stake. Trump isn’t trying to stop drugs. There’s no evidence it’s working. Cocaine seizures continue to rise. Overdose deaths in the U.S. remain catastrophic. Nothing changes. Nothing is improving. So why do it? Why do this? The answer is political. Viscerally political. Trump positions himself as « the strong man ». The man who fears nothing. The man who uses the world’s most powerful military machine to destroy adversaries-real or imagined. He compares himself to Ronald Reagan in the Cold War. He compares himself to George W. Bush after 9/11. He seeks a heroic narrative in which he is the gladiator, the protector, the savior. And for that, he needs you to be scared. He needs you to see explosions. To hear about « cartels » and « narco-terrorists ». That you accept the abnormal as the new normal. The math works remarkably well. Polls show that 56% of Americans support these forward attacks. 56 %. They watch a 30-second video of an explosion, hear the word « drug », and conclude that it’s justified. That it’s necessary. That it’s right. That’s how it works. Not by logic. By emotion. By fear. By spectacle
The legal atomic weapon: the internal declaration of war
The stroke of genius-and I say this with a huge dose of bitter sarcasm-is that Trump has found a legal basis. Weak? Extremely. Contestable? Absolutely. But there is one. On October 1, 2025, Trump officially notified Congress that the U.S. was engaged in a « non-international armed conflict » with « illegal combatants ». Drug cartels. Boom. In one fell swoop, he classified them with the same legal status as the Taliban, al-Qaeda, terrorist militias. And in an armed conflict? You can kill. You can strike. You don’t need immediate proof. You don’t need capture. You don’t need anything. Just a unilateral statement from the president. The Pentagon even forwarded a memorandum to Congress: « In armed conflict, a country may lawfully kill enemy combatants even if they pose no immediate threat. » So there you have it. Technically, it’s legal. Extraordinarily immoral? Probably. Against the Geneva Convention? Possibly. But legal? According to current American jurisprudence? Yes. And that’s the scary part. Because it’s the precedent. Because it’s the weapon that all future presidents will be able to use. Retired military lawyers-real experts-have published harrowing legal analyses. They explain that « enemy combatant » status does not apply to drug traffickers. That there is no such thing as a formalized international conflict. That the rules of war-« the laws and customs of armed conflict »-requirea distinction between combatants and civilians, proportionality, military necessity. You can’t just shoot at a boat at sea and say « it was a combatant » without proof. Except Trump does. And no one can stop him now because he’s got the legal machinery to justify it after the fact. The Supreme Court? It’ll probably-likely-validate it. Republicans in Congress? They’re applauding. The Democrats? Even Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, two Republican senators who cry despotism, can only protest. Protest. That’s all they’ve got left. Words. While the boats burn
Gustavo Petro: the only one who won’t lie down
When Colombia stands up to the empire
One politician has dared. Truly daring. Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia-a left-wing leader, intellectual, ex-guerrilla turned democrat. He didn’t accept the Trumpian narrative. He didn’t bow down to American military might. » This is the application of the death penalty on a territory that is not yours, » he declared after the October 22 strike. And that’s right. It’s precise. It’s courageous. Because criticizing Trump as a Latin American leader? That’s risky. You lose military aid. You lose alliances. You become an « enemy ». And that’s exactly what happened. Trump-in true cartoon tyrant fashion-called him a « thug, » an « incompetent, » a « drug dealer » who is destroying his own country. Secretary of State Marco Rubio used the word « lunatic ». Literally. Crazy. Crazy. And then Trump cut military aid. Just like that. Several billion dollars in equipment, training, military intelligence. No more. Adios. Because Petro dared to tell the truth. What’s absurd-and this is where I’d like to force you to face it-is that the strikes are happening near Colombia. Technically in international waters. But not far. The Colombian Pacific. And most of the ships-the Caribbean ones mostly-navigate from Colombian ports. Set sail from Colombia. Use Colombian infrastructure. So Petro could have let it happen. Let the Americans clean it up. Keep quiet. Keep the military aid. Keep alliances. Stay friends. But he didn’t. He stood up. He said no. And now he stands alone. With his American lawyers-he threatened to sue Trump legally in the U.S.-and his integrity. It’s a historic scene of a leader refusing empire. It probably won’t last. Trump will probably find a way to crush it. But for now? Petro is standing. And that counts. Even if it hurts
Colombia, victim of a desperate strategy
Because there’s something important that no one is making clear. The Colombian cartels are not an invention. They’ve been around for decades. Cocaine comes from Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. It’s geographical. It’s economic. It’s structural. And Trump isn’t going to solve it by bombing boats. It changes nothing. Production goes on. Traffic continues. The deaths continue. Overdoses in the United States continue. American families continue to mourn. So why? Why this show of destruction? Because Trump needs to show he’s doing something. That he’s doing something. Even if it doesn’t work. Even if it doesn’t work. Even if it creates massive diplomatic tensions. Even if it pushes a Latin American leader towards confrontation. It’s the illusion of power. It’s theater. And all the while, the cartels are adapting their routes. They decentralize. They find other routes. Cocaine production is reaching record levels. More drugs are entering the United States than before these strikes. And Trump? He keeps sending 30-second videos of burning boats. It’s like making a TikTok video at war. This is America in 2025. 
Corpses no one sees
This is what bothers me most deeply. There are no bodies. No names. No faces. No identities. Trump kills people in absolute darkness. The videos show boats-not human beings. Words speak of « narco-terrorists »-notfathers, mothers, sons, daughters. We know nothing about them. Where they come from. Who they are. Whether they were really traffickers or just poor guys who accepted a well-paid job on a boat. Because in Latin America? Agreeing to pilot a boat for the cartels is survival. It’s a year’s pay in a week. It’s the only opportunity. So yes, probably people involved in trafficking. Probably. But-and this is crucial-probably not « terrorists » as we understand the word. Not planners. Not ideologues. Not decision-makers. Just workers. Workers on the global drug chain. And they deserved a trial. A chance. A truth. Even if they were wrong. Even if their guilt was absolute. They deserved more than a burning video. Trump says he saved them. That he prevented drugs from killing 25,000 Americans this year. That may be true. But it’s not how you build a civilization. It’s how you destroy it. It’s how you say-explicitly-that laws no longer apply. That rights are negotiable. That procedure is dead. That extrajudicial execution is accepted. And once you say that? Once you cross that line? Where does it stop? Drug boats? Or human rights organizations? Or journalists who criticize him? Or politicians who oppose him? Where’s the line? Trump says there isn’t one. And that’s the sign of a dying democracy. Slowly. Then suddenly
Judges standing by
Meanwhile, where is justice? Where is the judiciary? American courts could stop this. They could say it’s illegal. That it’s unconstitutional. That it’s contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which the United States is a signatory. But they don’t. Why won’t they? Because Trump has nominated three Supreme Court justices. Because the federal courts are filled with Republican-appointed judges. Because the « strong executive » theory is dominate. Because we’ve accepted-silently, gradually, fatally-that the president can do just about anything in the name of « national security. » Any calls? Some. Democrats in Congress calling for an investigation? Yes. But no action. No blocking. No Supreme Court injunction saying « stop now. » It’s a legal vacuum. A well. And Trump fills it with concrete
The lesson for the rest of the world
And that’s where I want to leave you. With this thought. With this unease. Trump bombing ships without Congressional approval isn’t an anomaly. It’s a signal. It’s Trump testing the limits. This is Trump looking around and asking himself-« how far can I go? » And every day no one stops? It’s a yes. Silent. Institutional. But yes. Yes, you can bomb ships. Yes, you can kill without trial. Yes, you can humiliate allies. Yes, you can push the limits. And the day when the limits no longer exist? The day when there’s no more « no »? That’s when the real problem comes. That’s when democracy doesn’t save. That’s when Colombia looks on from the outside. And when Petro shouts into the void. Source : Buzznews