The U.S. military announced on Friday that it has conducted another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the Caribbean Sea. According to U.S. Southern Command, the boat was engaged in narco-trafficking operations along known trafficking routes in the region. The strike resulted in the death of three individuals, as shown in a video posted on social media depicting the boat exploding in flames.
This recent attack brings the total death toll from the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats to 133 people in 38 separate incidents since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed last week that certain top cartel drug-traffickers in the area have decided to halt all narcotics operations indefinitely due to the effectiveness of recent kinetic strikes in the Caribbean. However, no concrete evidence was provided to support this assertion, which was made in a social media post on Hegseth’s personal account.
President Donald Trump has characterized the U.S. as being in armed conflict with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary measure to curb the drug trade. Despite this, the administration has not offered substantial proof to corroborate its claims of eliminating narcoterrorists.
