Reported by Samuel Granados, Genevieve Glatsky and Annie Correal

(Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/09/world/americas/drug-trafficking-venezuela.html)

The U.S. military has killed at least 21 people in recent strikes on small boats that it says were smuggling drugs off the coast of Venezuela.

President Trump justified the attacks by saying the United States is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and vowing to “destroy Venezuelan terrorists and trafficking networks.”

But Mr. Trump’s focus on Venezuela is at odds with reality: The vast majority of cocaine is produced and smuggled elsewhere in Latin America, according to data from the United States, Colombia and the United Nations. And Venezuela does not supply fentanyl at all, experts say.

Here is how those two drugs actually get to the United States.

In the 1980s and ’90s, the Caribbean was the main route for smugglers taking cocaine to the United States. Now, most of that traffic moves through the Pacific.

The Caribbean remains a pass-through point, however. And some countries in the region say that in response to an increased U.S. military presence on the water, some traffickers have started flying their product through the area.

But in recent years, top U.S. officials have rarely mentioned cocaine as a priority. Their focus has been on fentanyl, the drug tied to a national overdose crisis.

Venezuela plays essentially no role in the production or smuggling of fentanyl. The drug is almost entirely made in Mexico with chemicals imported from countries in Asia, including China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Justice Department and the Congressional Research Service.