Did the U.S. Coast Guard report that drugs were found on just 21% of the suspected drug-trafficking vessels stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard in the 13 months before airstrikes, while the rest -- 79% -- did nothing wrong? No, that's not true: Social media posts making the 21% claim reversed the numbers shared by Sen. Rand Paul, who was using data sent to him by the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard reported 41 of 212 boats searched did not have "illicit contraband," which is 19.4% with no drugs and 80.6% with drugs.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published by the @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social Bluesky account on December 2, 2025. It opened:
According to the US Coast Guard, the year prior to Trump changing our policy to summary execution, only 21% of the vessels interdicted by them off the coast of Venezuela suspected of trafficking drugs had drugs on board. The other 79% had nothing. But now we just kill them all.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of Bluesky)
The post includes a letter from the U.S. Coast Guard to Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, who shared it on his X post (archived here) with a comment that read:
Coast Guard records show that prior to the reign of "blow-them-to-smithereens" 21 percent of boats stopped off the coast of Venezuela possessed NO drugs!
The Coast Guard letter read:
1. From September 1, 2024, to October 7, 2025, Coast Guard surface assets, operating under Coast Guard law enforcement authority, interdicted 212 suspected drug-smuggling vessels at sea headed toward the United States. Of the 212 interdictions, 41 vessels had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted; 24 of those 41 vessels without contraband did not appear to commit any federal criminal offense.2. Of the 212 total vessels interdicted during this period, 69 vessels were interdicted in the Caribbean Sea by Coast Guard surface assets, operating under Coast Guard law enforcement authority. Of these 69 interdictions, 14 had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted; 11 of those 14 vessels without contraband did not appear to commit any federal criminal offense. Of the 69 Caribbean interdictions, 14 vessels were interdicted off the coast of Venezuela. Three of the 14 vessels interdicted near Venezuela had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted, but one of the three violated other U.S. federal criminal statutes.3. The Coast Guard did not use lethal force against any of the 212 vessels interdicted at sea during this period. The Coast Guard used non-lethal force to warn and/or disable non-compliant vessels suspected of smuggling on 105 occasions during this period.4. Of the 212 interdictions conducted by the Coast Guard from September 1, 2024, to October 7, 2025, 208 were interdicted in international waters.5. Of the 212 interdictions conducted by the Coast Guard from September 1, 2024, to October 7, 2025, three were in the territorial waters of the United States. The remaining single interdiction took place in foreign territorial seas where U.S. enforcement was authorized under a bilateral international agreement.
(Image source: ronfilipkowski.bsky.social)
Paul's post claim that 21% of the boats had no drugs was a slight miscalculation of what was said in the letter. The Coast Guard wrote that "212 interdictions, 41 vessels had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted," which is 19.4% of the total boats without drugs -- assuming "illicit contraband" is referencing drugs.
The Bluesky post, which was also shared by Ron Filipkowski on his X and Threads accounts, reversed Paul's numbers with the claim that 79% of the boats had no drugs on board.
