How many Venezuelan-flagged vessels were seized for drug trafficking in the Caribbean each year since 2010?

1. What the sources actually document: a 2025 spike, not a decade of tallies

Multiple outlets chronicle a sharp increase in U.S. maritime actions against suspected drug boats in 2025: news organizations and timelines report an initial deadly strike in September 2025 and subsequent actions that by some counts total between nine and 21 strikes across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific in the months that followed ^{[1] [2]}. These accounts emphasize recent strikes and naval deployments rather than compiling historical seizure statistics for Venezuelan‑flagged vessels from 2010 onward ^{[3] [4]}.

2. Sources focus on strikes and legal questions, not routine seizure counts

Coverage centers on the legal and humanitarian implications of lethal strikes—whether the U.S. actions complied with maritime law, whether evidence was shown, and the regional diplomatic fallout—rather than producing an annual dataset of seized Venezuelan‑flagged ships since 2010. The BBC and Proceedings/Washington Navy Institute highlight legal limits under the law of the sea and note disputes about evidence for specific strikes ^{[3] [5]}.

3. Conflicting figures and perspectives in 2025 reporting

Even within 2025-focused reporting there is disagreement over numbers and characterization: PBS and The Washington Post published differing totals and casualty figures tied to the campaign—PBS cited "at least 37 people in nine strikes" in an early aggregation while The Washington Post cited U.S. confirmation of 21 strikes across Caribbean and Pacific waters as the campaign expanded ^{[1] [2]}. Outlets also relay U.S. claims that floating packages in strike footage proved narcotics were present, a claim critics and some regional governments dispute ^{[1] [3]}.

4. Why a year‑by‑year Venezuelan‑flagged seizure series is absent in these sources

The provided reporting prioritizes recent policy, military deployments and contested strikes; they do not purport to be statistical compendia of vessel seizures stretching back to 2010. Where seizure totals are mentioned, they are episodic: for example, Venezuela’s government claimed large drug seizures in 2025 but that is a single‑year assertion, not an historical series ^[6]. Therefore an annualized list of "Venezuelan‑flagged vessels seized" since 2010 is not available in these pieces (not found in current reporting).

5. What you can reliably conclude from the available sources

You can reliably conclude from the sources that: (a) the U.S. significantly increased naval assets and conducted lethal strikes on suspected drug boats in 2025; (b) reporting counts for that campaign vary by outlet (e.g., nine strikes in one timeline, 21 confirmed strikes in another) and casualty figures differ as well; and (c) the legality and evidentiary bases for the strikes have become a major focus of international criticism ^{[2] [1] [5] [3]}.

6. How to get the specific year‑by‑year numbers you asked for

To produce a reliable year‑by‑year tally since 2010 you need datasets that the current news coverage does not supply: official seizure logs from maritime authorities (e.g., Venezuelan, Caribbean coast guards, U.S. Coast Guard/Southern Command), UN Office on Drugs and Crime compilations, or academic/think‑tank databases on maritime interdictions. The provided sources do not cite or publish that historical dataset (not found in current reporting).

Limitations and transparency: these conclusions are drawn only from the supplied set of articles and timelines; they do not incorporate other reporting, governmental databases, or customs/police seizure records that may exist elsewhere (not found in current reporting).