“The drugs on each boat struck by the U.S. [off Venezuela] would kill "on average, 25,000 people."”

Multiple speeches characterizing the Caribbean boat strikes' drug-trafficking impact

No evidence supports 25,000 deaths per boat. The CDC estimated 80,391 drug overdose deaths in the entire United States in 2024, from all drugs combined, so a single small boat accounting for 25,000 deaths would equal nearly a third of a full year's national toll, and the dozens of boats struck would exceed it many times over.

The drug that drives U.S. overdose deaths is not what moves on these routes. The Congressional Research Service, citing the State Department, says "Mexico was again the most significant source of illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogues significantly affecting the United States in 2024," and experts and U.S. government reports say fentanyl "is mostly transported not by boat in the Caribbean but over land across the U.S.-Mexico border." The superseding U.S. indictment of Maduro alleges cocaine trafficking on a vast scale, but it does not mention fentanyl.

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"The United States determined that Mexico was again the most significant source of illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogues significantly affecting the United States in 2024." (Congressional Research Service, citing the State Department's 2025 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report)