The U.S. military executed another lethal strike on a suspected narco-terrorist vessel in the Caribbean Sea, marking at least the 15th such operation since September. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed the strike on Saturday, sharing video footage of the nighttime explosion and revealing that three individuals were killed aboard the targeted vessel.
According to Hegseth, the boat was linked to a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and was transiting a known drug-trafficking route. Though the specific group was not named, the secretary stated that all intelligence confirmed the vessel was involved in narcotics smuggling.
“All three terrorists were killed,” Hegseth wrote. “No U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.” He further declared that these narco-terrorists are “bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans” and vowed to treat them the same way the U.S. treated Al-Qaeda: “We will continue to track them, map them, hunt them, and kill them.”
Since the campaign began, at least 64 individuals have been killed in U.S. military strikes on smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. President Donald Trump has defended the aggressive military operations as necessary to stop the flood of drugs into the United States. He has invoked the same legal authority used in the post-9/11 War on Terror to justify the campaign.
Last week, aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier in Japan, President Trump said the campaign had been so effective that “there’s no ships coming in with drugs.” But despite the success, a new vessel was found—and destroyed.
Not all leaders are onboard. Senate Democrats are demanding transparency and legal documentation, requesting lists of targeted organizations and legal justifications. U.N. officials, including human rights chief Volker Turk, condemned the actions as “unacceptable” and called for an end to what they labeled extrajudicial killings.
