Narco-terrorism: What is a non-international armed conflict?

The United States is no stranger when it comes to meddling in its backyard of Latin America. The Trump Administration is pivoting in a new direction when it comes to policing drug trafficking. It is important to state that there is an entire government department dedicated to enforcement when it comes to drug trafficking, which is called the Drug Enforcement Administration, or the DEA. This department has always taken the lead on investigating drug-related crimes since it was established in 1973. The new direction that the current administration is taking has raised concerns from law experts and members of congress. They are worried about how they are testing the norms of how to engage with drug cartels and narco-terrorism. Instead of practical investigations and judicial proceedings, the U.S. military are actively involved with what is normally the enforcement agency’s job by “targeting go-fast-style boats in the Caribbean Sea that Mr. Trump or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have said were smuggling drugs for “narco-terrorists,” without offering evidence.” The legal questions surrounding whether or not the president can authorise these strikes against a group of people that are labelled as terrorist organisations.

The month of September and early October in 2025 has seen four strikes from the U.S. military against alleged vessels that are “transporting substantial amounts of narcotics” off of the coast of Venezuela. The newly rebranded Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, claims that there was sufficient evidence that these vessels are “trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route.” The secretary also believes that the narco-trafficking group are aligned with the Tren de Aragua group. One of the attacks that the Trump administration refers to individuals as “unlawful combatants”, but no nationality or group was specified. Without establishing evidence or confirmation of nationality, very serious concerns are raised from surrounding countries. The spill over into other countries is particularly noted by President Petro of Columbia, who accues the United States of killing Columbian citizens. He has states that there are ““indications” that the most recently destroyed boat was Colombian “and had Colombians onboard”.” The vagueness surrounding the identities of those who are attacked raises questions that are important as it is not only a U.S. domestic issue but also a challenge to international law.

How are these actions justified? The Trump administration is using the concept of non-international armed conflict to skirt around the U.S. Congressional authorisation. RULAC provides the following definition:

“There are thus two core elements constituting a non-international armed conflict: (1) Protracted armed violence is taking place, meaning a certain intensity of the armed violence. (2) The actors taking part in it must exhibit a certain degree of organization.

Many international organisations reject the idea that armed conflict cannot occur between a violent non-state actor and a state “without having a territorial anchor” and it should be evaluated on a case by case basis. Without congressional approval and using a statue of non-international armed conflict, which was used to justify the "Global War on Terror”, the Trump administration is notifying the U.S. Congress but continuing the attacks without any kind of approval. The Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained to Congress that “these are targeted strikes against imminent threats against the United States," which is why approval is not considered necessary by the White House or the Pentagon. 

Reigning in the power of the U.S. President has proved difficult in the first nine months of 2025. The agenda is constantly changing, and his administration is determined to rattle the cages of their opponents. On the global level, President Trump is challenging international law and norms with the determination to expand his power on his own terms. There are even rumours that the administration is designing plans to strike inside Venezuela to challenge Maduro and possibly instigate regime change. The future of these plans will be interesting to see unfold, especially now that Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leader of Venezuela, has won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.