The Trump White House is signaling a new war on drug cartels. Today, the U.S. designated two

Ecuadorian gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. And on Monday, the president released

video of what the administration says was a strike on a drug-running boat off the coast of Venezuela,

where the U.S. Navy now has ships deployed. Nick Schifrin takes a closer look at what happened and at the administration's case for both

the policy and the legality of this renewed focus on drug trafficking.

In the Southern Caribbean, a new war on drugs.

What has for years been a law enforcement mission, now a military operation, that President Trump calls the most effective deterrent. They were hit, obviously. They won't be doing it again. And I think a lot of other people won't be doing it again when they watch that tape. The Trump administration has deployed to the region warships and thousands of sailors and Marines that are actively pursuing drug smugglers, Secretary of State Markerio said today. But this time, we're not just going to hunt for drug dealers with a little fastboats and say, let's try to arrest him. No, we're going to — the president has said he wants to wage war on these groups because they've been waging war on us for 30 years and no one has responded. For decades, the U.S. has responded to the region's supply of drugs through interception.

The Coast Guard has legal authority to pursue an arrest smugglers.

And the Drug Enforcement Agency and other civilian agencies work with regional partners

to target supply routes and production in remote drug labs.

But the Trump administration argues fentanyl alone has killed nearly 200,000 to target supply routes and production in remote drug labs.

But the Trump administration argues fentanyl alone has killed nearly 200,000 Americans in the

last three years.

More Americans killed than in war over the last six decades.

And the Trump administration has labeled drug cartels foreign terrorist organizations.

And Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the leader

of a specially designated global terrorist cartel. The Trump administration says this week's

strike killed 11, quote, narco-terrorists who belong to Tren der Agua, which the administration

says is connected to Maduro. But today, Venezuela's justice minister called the strike unjust.

What the United States presented as a strike against drug traffickers was nothing more than an illegal

massacre in international waters. They violated international law.

And to discuss this shift in U.S. policy, we get two views. Retired Rear Admiral William Baumgartner commanded U.S. Coast Guard operations in the southeast U.S. and Caribbean,

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