FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

 Submitted by Trey Rusk

 

They see themselves as the cowboys of the drug trade, highly experienced crews that ferry narcotics on small boats across the open seas, running on a mix of bravado, skill and dreams of a massive payday.

Now, designated as terrorists by the Trump administration, they face not only the perils of a capricious sea but the new danger of getting blown out of the water by the U.S. military. The trade’s unofficial motto—“deliver or die”—has never rung so true.

Many of the pilots and crew of the go-fast boats got their start as fishermen before transitioning into smuggling. Three men who have manned these drug boats spoke to The Wall Street Journal, describing a once little-known but essential part of the narcotics trade that is now in President Trump’s sights.

They run drug cargoes worth as much as $70 million on the sleek 40-foot-long boats. These boats are the workhorses for the traffickers along 2,000 miles of Colombian coastline—and hundreds more miles in Ecuador and Venezuela.

“The ocean is very big, very big,” said one Colombian pilot who plies the Caribbean. “These drug organizations live from trafficking. They will continue to do this. This doesn’t end. This will continue even if the United States continues its bombings.”