A report from the 'Costs of War' project at Brown University, released on April 24 by 'The Intercept', reveals that US attacks on alleged 'drug boats' in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and the raid to capture Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela have required at least $4.7 billion in military spending. The two researchers in charge of the report assure that it is a "conservative" estimate due to the lack of official information and warn that the human and financial cost "will continue to increase" as Washington extends its military deployments.

First modification: 04/24/2026 - 22:23 Last modification: 04/25/2026 - 04:27

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Between August 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026, the United States has spent at least $4.7 billion on military actions – of debatable legality, to say the least – in Latin America.

That is the conclusion presented by a report from the 'Costs of War' project at Brown University, prepared by researchers Hanna Homestead (Institute for Policy Studies) and Jennifer Kavanagh (Defense Priorities), which was first reported by 'The Intercept'.

The report makes "a conservative estimate based on the limited information available" on the so-called Southern Spear and Absolute Resolution operations.

The first refers to the US attacks against alleged 'drug boats' in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, while the second was the US military incursion - with bombings in Caracas included - to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, on January 3.

This is the most complete analysis of this type to date, although the researchers were able to access only the data that has transcended the public sphere, while the Pentagon continues to refuse to disclose the details of the spending of its military actions, even to legislators who have requested them.

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For this reason, Homestead and Kavanagh emphasize that "certain operations – such as the details of a CIA operation in Venezuela that President Trump referred to – remain classified or have been incompletely disclosed," while the calculation "does not include long-term budget costs, such as veterans benefits."

"We anticipate that, if complete information was available, our cost estimate would likely increase significantly," they said.

More than 200 million spent on the capture of Maduro

In their report, the researchers highlight that the decision of the Donald Trump Administration to designate drug trafficking cartels as terrorist organizations "paved the way for the expansion of US forces in the area of ​​responsibility of the US Southern Command and the eventual military aggression against Venezuelan President Maduro."

When disaggregating how those $4.7 billion have been spent, the highest figure corresponds to what they define as "the largest deployment of US naval forces in the Caribbean since the missile crisis and the blockade of Cuba in 1962."

Read also “Killings for sport and murders for theater”: Caribbean fishermen in check due to Trump's attacks

The presence of the so-called Iwo Jima Amphibious Group – which is made up of the ships USS Iwo Jima, USS Fort Lauderdale and USS San Antonio –, together with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie, represents an expenditure of 3,844,461,630 dollars, which is equivalent to about 9 million per day.

In second order is the air deployment, which between August 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026 involved a disbursement of 616,320,457 dollars, about 2.6 million per day, while it is presumed that at least 20 planes are still distributed in the area.

While $15,942,269 was allocated to the approximately 200 members of the special operations forces deployed for months on reconnaissance and training missions before Maduro's capture, the one-time costs of the so-called Operation Absolute Resolve, executed on January 3, reached $206,683,300.

Finally, the researchers indicated that the expenses on ammunition used in 47 bombings against ships suspected of drug trafficking range between 12.6 and 50.4 million dollars, assuming that between one and four ammunition were used per attack.

These expenditures can vary "depending on the platform and munitions, and could be significantly higher if multiple munitions or aircraft were used."

Regarding those attacks in the Caribbean and the Pacific, Homestead and Kavanagh recall that it was "a radical break with the long-standing practice of the Coast Guard of intercepting ships, detaining suspects."

"Legal experts have described these attacks as illegal extrajudicial executions, since neither the armed forces nor the government are allowed to execute civilians who do not represent an imminent threat," they stated.

Rising costs and lack of transparency

Although the report focuses on the economic impact, the authors did not want to ignore that "the human cost of these operations is also significant", recalling that the bombings of 'narco-boats' have caused the death of at least 163 people between September 2, 2025 and March 31, 2026, while the military raid to arrest Maduro left at least 75 dead, including two confirmed civilians.

"In addition, at least one US service member died while deployed in the Caribbean in February 2026, when two US ships collided," they indicated.

Although the researchers highlighted that "many US military resources in the region have been reduced and redirected to the escalation of war in Iran", "some ships, aircraft and troops still remain", a presence that they consider possible to be maintained "in the foreseeable future".

As published by 'The Intercept' last November, an internal document of the US Armed Forces indicated the possibility of sustaining some type of deployment in the Caribbean until 2028, almost around the end of Donald Trump's term.

This would respond, in part, to the United States' intention to maintain pressure so that the government in charge of Venezuela, headed by Delcy Rodríguez, remains aligned with Washington's interests.

Furthermore, the Trump Administration has made no secret of its intention to expand its influence in Latin America, either by supporting conservative and far-right governments that are similar to it or through the use of force.

In that sense, the Brown University report does not consider the expenses of the recent joint attacks by the United States and Ecuador, supposedly directed against criminal groups on the border with Colombia. And if Trump makes good on his threats to "take Cuba," he could incur another costly deployment to the region.

Read also"We would be naive if we do not prepare": Cuba claims to be ready for Trump's aggression

Faced with Washington's actions, Homestead and Kavanagh question the lack of transparency about the money used in the US military outposts, "especially when operations of great importance are financed by an opaque trillion-dollar Pentagon budget that has never passed a federal audit and lacks congressional oversight."

Thus, the researchers consider "fundamental to provide transparency" about military actions that "entail significant human, financial and strategic costs and risks."

"American taxpayers, who are increasingly finding it difficult to cover their basic needs, have the right to know how their taxes are spent," they conclude.

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