Drug Abuse and Traffic

• U.S. Military’s Boat Strikes Planning Takes On New Significance - The details could raise questions about who was responsible for a follow-up strike on Sept. 2 — the commander who ordered it or the defense secretary.
• Hegseth Says He Did Not See Survivors of Boat Strike Clinging to Wreckage - The defense secretary supported the admiral he said called for the second strike on Sept. 2 against a boat the administration says was smuggling drugs.
• Juan Orlando Hernández, Former President of Honduras, Is Freed From Prison After Trump Pardon - Juan Orlando Hernández was accused of flooding the United States with cocaine and had been sentenced to 45 years in prison.
• Maduro Faces His Ultimate Fight as Trump Threatens Military Action in Venezuela - President Trump’s threat of military action has confronted President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela with the gravest challenge of his crisis-ridden reign.
• America’s Backyard Isn’t as Quiet as It Looks - Latin Americans have proved surprisingly acquiescent to U.S. aggression — but that won’t last forever.
• Lawmakers Suggest Follow-Up Boat Strike Could Be a War Crime - Top Republicans have joined Democrats in demanding answers about the escalating military campaign the Trump administration says is aimed at targeting drug traffickers.
• The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine - Juan Orlando Hernández, whom Mr. Trump called a victim of persecution, helped orchestrate a decades-long trafficking conspiracy. It ravaged his Central American country.
• Targeting Venezuela and Pardoning Honduran Ex-President, Trump Contradicts Himself - President Trump’s statements on social media less than 24 hours apart showed the dissonance in his campaign against drug trafficking.
• Trump Declares Venezuelan Airspace Closed - President Trump said days earlier that the United States could “very soon” expand its campaign of killing people at sea suspected of drug trafficking to attacking Venezuelan territory.