U.S. naval campaign in Venezuela unlikely to cut American overdose deaths

Time reports that a U.S. naval task force was assembled in the Caribbean in mid‑August 2025 and by December included the largest U.S. aircraft carrier, 10 other warships, 70 aircraft, a nuclear submarine and about 15,000 service members. By December the force destroyed 35 small Venezuelan boats, and on Jan.

3, 2026, "Operation Absolute Resolve" captured the President of Venezuela and his wife, who were sent to an overcrowded Brooklyn jail to face drug‑trafficking charges. The strikes produced no evidence of drug cargos, the report says, even as President Trump claimed each strike had saved at least 25,000 American lives or the cumulative equivalent of about eight years of U.S.

overdoses. The piece notes that overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 44 and that the vast majority are caused by illicit fentanyl—typically synthesized in Mexico from precursor chemicals supplied by Chinese operatives and trafficked into the United States through official ports of entry.

Key Topics

Politics, Venezuela, Donald Trump, Operation Absolute Resolve, Fentanyl, Samhsa