U.S. Military Strikes Off the Coast of Venezuela Renew Calls for UW to Cut Ties with War Profiteer Boeing

HUB front desk reads: "The War Machine Is Oiled in Palestinian Blood." Photo found within The Nightly archives from 2024.

What is happening off the coast of Venezuela?

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Since this August, the U.S. Military under the Trump Administration has rapidly ramped up its presence in the Caribbean, with particular attention being paid to the coast of Venezuela. Shortly thereafter, on September 2nd, the public learned from a White House post on Twitter that "U.S. Military Forces conducted a strike" which killed 11 “terrorists,” allegedly transporting narcotics to the United States. Supposedly, this strike happened in international waters. While the full unedited version of the video released on the strike hasn’t been declassified, some analysis has noted that it is not clear whether there were 11 people or stashes of drugs in the boat.

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Since the September 2nd strike, lawmakers learned about a follow-up strike that happened, which was not included in the initial strike seen in the initial declassified video. While it remains unclear as to who exactly ordered the follow-up strike; According to AP News, the Pentagon was aware that there were survivors. Reportedly, Rep. Adam Smith from WA-9, a member of the House Armed Services Committee investigating the strike, said after viewing classified video that there were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.” If true, this raises the possibility of violations of both U.S. DoD regulations and international law. Additionally, it has reportedly become clear that the boat had already changed its course and was already returning to shore when fired upon. Despite our belief at The Nightly that any imperialist strike abroad should be condemned, we believe these strikes specifically should raise eyebrows of America’s most ignorant liberals because of the shocking disregard for human life.

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Since the September 2nd strike, the U.S. military claims it has conducted 21 strikes, killing over 80 people. The Trump Administration alleges it is in “armed conflict,” and military presence continues to increase in the region, including the deployment of a carrier strike group. This comes in the same year that the Trump Administration has designated various organizations operating in Venezuela as terrorist organizations to the same status as groups like al-Qaida.

Expectedly, some Republican lawmakers once again made their absolute allegiances to the Trump Administration clear despite the violent loss of human life. This includes Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton, who told reporters that these were "righteous strikes.” We here at The Nightly wonder if any strike, albeit a strike on wounded survivors of an initial attack, is ever “righteous.” Sen. Cotton also said that it was “gratifying” to him “that the president has made the decision, finally, after decades of letting it happen, that we’re going to take the battle to them and we’re going to continue to strike these boats.” We here at The Nightly found these types of comments to be deeply disturbing, and a sign of our observation of American desensitization to loss of life in developing countries at the hands of our imperialist government.

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Unsurprisingly, the Democrats haven’t done a whole lot better. Democrats have made various accusations of violations of the law; Senate Democrats have taken their precious time to craft a letter to send to the President outlining their concerns. It is in our belief here at The Nightly that Democrats would be better off actually checking Republican power by introducing articles of impeachment to those who authorized these strikes and utilizing their Senate votes to filibuster as a tactic to stop the extrajudicial killing that continues to unfold in the Caribbean without congressional approval.

While there is evidence that some Cocaine produced in Venezuela ends up in America, the Trump Administration has repeatedly attributed these strikes to “narco terrorists.” There is little evidence that narcotics, which are opioids, are produced in any meaningful amounts in Venezuela. Trump has gone so far as to proclaim that Fentanyl is a weapon of mass destruction in recent weeks (this, to us, is interestingly similar to U.S. history in Iraq, when President G. W. Bush falsely proclaimed that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, which, intentionally or not, prepared American minds for war). On the other hand, private companies owned by American capitalists like the Sacklers, Purdue Pharma, and other pharmaceutical giants are actually responsible for hundreds of thousands of American deaths because of opioids. Purdue Pharma was a larger contributor to opioid overdoses from their drug OxyContin, which was tactically advertised in misleading ways by sales representatives to be prescribed to Americans. Evidence suggests Venezuelan cartels are not bringing meaningful quantities of opioids into America, but there sure is a cruel contemporary history of the American capitalist profiting off of their own opioids they have introduced to America, which have resulted in the suffering and death of Americans.

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Beneath the seemingly false accusations that U.S. military actions are a result of concerted efforts by Venezuelan-backed cartels to poison Americans with the narcotic Fentanyl, some believe there are more substantive and compelling motivations of the U.S. Government. Some have hypothesized, a hypothesis that some of us find very compelling, that a main motivation for U.S. aggression towards Venezuela is to exert control over Venezuelan oil reserves to benefit private American oil conglomerates. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserve. With the recent historic motivations to invade Kuwait and Iraq in mind, it would not be surprising that this is simply a move by the neo-liberal forces exerted on President Trump to win concessions from Venezuela in order to gain drilling permissions for private American oil companies.

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UW, Boeing, and their complicity in imperialist violence.

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Boeing is one of the top entities in some measurements that supplies U.S. war efforts. The U.S. military is using numerous Boeing-designed and manufactured vehicles to aid in the growing aggression off the coast of Venezuela. In 2025, Boeing designed and/or manufactured B-52 bombers, B-1 bombers, KC/RC-135 tankers/reconnaissance aircraft, P-8 reconnaissance aircraft, V-22 transports, and A/C-130 cargo/gunship aircraft, have all been reportedly used by the United States in the region during the time of these strikes. Additionally, Boeing was the top U.S. manufacturer of missiles and ammunition delivered to Israel from 2021 to 2023 during the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The IOF continues its ongoing occupation that has resulted in over 70,000 Palestinian martyrs since 2023. Throughout the century of aerospace warfare, Boeing has established itself as a major designer and manufacturer of war machines, and from our observations, that does not seem likely to change any time soon.

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For years now, student activists at the University of Washington have called on the UW Administration and the Board of Regents to cut ties with the multinational aerospace and missile manufacturer Boeing. Boeing is one of the top contractors of the U.S. Military, as well as a supplier to various other foreign imperialist powers by way of dealings of the U.S. Government.

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As Boeing was founded in Seattle, it has had a long history of collaboration with the University of Washington, dating back to 1917. It would be difficult to summarize every instance of partnership between Boeing and the University of Washington, but we have tried to pull out the most relevant items for this piece. This collaboration has included donations, internships, scholarships, and mentorships.

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One of Boeing’s earliest donations in 1917 was a wind tunnel which was used to test dozens of aircraft from Boeing and other war profiteers (Lockheed, Davis, and Consolidated) during WWII, Notably, the wind tunnel tested the Boeing B-29 bomber, which was the same aircraft type to violently fire bomb densely populated cities in WWII and ultimately drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945; which claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. While a new wind tunnel has since been constructed since, Boeing continues to test many of the airplanes the company designs at the University of Washington.

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UW has had especially close relations with Boeing recently. This has included a 2022 $10 million dollar donation from the war profiteer to construct the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (IEB). Since its completed construction, the second floor of the IEB is known as the "Boeing Landing." UW claims that this investment from Boeing is in order “to support new educational space that features focus on AI."

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Nancy Allbritton, Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering at UW, highlighted the intersection of capitalism and imperialism when she stated that the IEB donation “sets a tone for industry engagement with our students, which translates directly into strong regional economic growth.  As we advance a vision of engineering excellence for the public good, we look forward to expanding our partnership with Boeing and other local industry for the benefit of our students and our broader community.” Yes Nancy, imperialism is an inherent aspect of capitalism when the capitalist benefits by exerting their economic power by manufacturing violent weapons to sell to our government in order to rule over new markets abroad. This may result in “regional economic growth,” locally as you say (primarily for the ruling class, albeit), but this “growth” is benefiting Boeing, a corporation that profits off violence. Providing students with job opportunities and the possibilities of some small top-down benefits from the local wealthy population from their own monetary gain, may occur, but at what cost? By building partnerships to benefit local industry like Boeing, and pushing UW students and research efforts towards its benefit, the University of Washington is complicit in the many wars fueled by Boeing weapons, and the University has blood on its hands for the countless deaths that have resulted.

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Boeing chief engineer and executive vice president of Engineering, Test & Technology Greg Hyslop also commented on this donation to build the IEB by saying, “The new Interdisciplinary Engineering Building offers Boeing the opportunity to partner more closely with the university on cutting-edge technologies that enhance the safety and sustainability of our products and services” (according to UW). The University of Washington has taken an active role in allowing this corporation onto our campus that presents an option for young engineers to enter into the industry that profits from global violence. We at The Nightly do not want a war profiteer “partner[ing] more closely” with our university.

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According to UW, Boeing continues to sponsor 10 capstone projects every year for 50 students, providing some of its own employees to mentor UW Students. UW also brags that “Boeing is a top employer of UW engineering graduates, with nearly 1,200 engineering alumni hired in the last five years and 6,500 UW alumni currently working for the aerospace company, according to LinkedIn and other data.” Whether or not Boeing's involvement with the University of Washington actually has an impact on engineering students working for them after graduation, UW clearly isn't opposed to a Boeing presence. Whether it be the donation to fund the construction of the IEB or the many other instances of UW's collaboration with Boeing, there is a clear presence of the war profiteer on campus. We here at The Nightly say shame to the University for fostering a place for young minds to collaborate and advance the military-industrial complex.

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To us here at The Nightly, it seems that the deep partnership continues to become more and more entrenched, all while atrocities continue to occur as a result of Boeing-made weapons and military vehicles. This means that money earned as a result of conflicts that have ended countless lives is being used to fund programs at our university. Boeing will continue to profit as a result of their sales of vehicles and weapons used to violently end Venezuelan lives. Boeing will continue to profit as a result of Zionist genocide in Palestine. There is blood on the hands of Boeing, and that means there is blood is on the hands of all of the administrators at the University of Washington responsible for collaborating with Boeing and complicit with their presence on campus.

We believe that there must be an institutional effort undertaken at the University of Washington to cut ties with Boeing. War profiteer efforts and their recruitment agendas must not be present on our campus. As fellow humans and workers to the millions who have died as a result of American imperialism, we have a moral obligation to end the connection between our university and Boeing. It is ethically reprehensible to stand idly by as our university presents itself as a platform for a known corporation contributing to the deaths of countless innocent lives. We at The Nightly demand UW Administration and the UW Board of Regents cut ties with Boeing.