U.S. Homeland Security agents based out of Mobile have been fighting the drug trade in the Gulf of America for years. However, a retired special agent said on FM Talk 106.5's "Jeff Poor Show" that President Donald Trump's latest policies could make an impact on traffickers traveling from South America like never before.
Retired Homeland Security special agent Angelo Fermo said recent strikes on Venezuelan drug boats are an aggressive and successful tactic to send a message.
Mobile has been a hub for operations for decades and was one of the first to conduct undercover missions, leading to informants coming forward from all around the world. Those informants have provided vital information to intercept boats carrying cocaine from Venezuela or the coast of Colombia. Homeland Security gathers information and coordinates with the U.S. Coast Guard.
In the past, those efforts, along with Coast Guard patrols, have led to the seizure of boats and hundreds of kilos of cocaine, but Fermo said seizing the drugs is not always the answer. He said Trump designating the cartels as terrorist organizations and striking them is a step above putting a Band-Aid on a problem.
"What we've been doing for 15 years, stacking cocaine on a table and taking pictures and everything else, is, I mean, it's been great, but, you know, it's not slowed it down at all," Fermo said. "So, and even now, you know, they're still not getting to that point where they're completely stopped, but he is making an impact with it."
Fermo said destroying the drugs makes it impossible for foreign entities to take possession of seized drugs and sell them. He said he is confident that military officials in the U.S. have intel the public is unaware of that ensures the boats targeted contain large amounts of cocaine and dangerous "thugs, criminals and murderers."
"The Coast Guard's been doing this for so long out in the Gulf that there's a pattern," Fermo explained. "You know who the bad actors are. You know which ones they are, what they look like, the way they demonstrate. And like the libertarians are like, 'They're just out there just blowing boats up.' No, they're blowing up boats that are directly trying to bring narcotics here to the United States, and they don't care."
Socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been charged with narco-terrorism and drug trafficking. Maduro is accused of leading the charge to traffic drugs around the world. Fermo said the dictator is under more pressure from Trump than ever before.
"The Trump policy has basically said, 'You're going to stop sending cocaine to the United States. You are designated as a terrorist organization. You are killing American citizens, and it's going to stop," he said.
Fermo said he hoped Trump's next step would be to remove Maduro from power. While he realizes Trump will face backlash with every move he makes, Fermo said the proof he is right will be in the results, and that is exactly what he expects to see.
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