Washington: The US military said Friday that it carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea.
United States Southern Command said in a social media post that the targeted boat “was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” According to the command, three people were killed in the strike. A video shared alongside the statement shows the vessel moving through the water before erupting into flames following an explosion.
With this latest operation, the death toll from strikes conducted under the administration of Donald Trump against suspected drug-trafficking boats has reportedly risen to 133. Since early September, at least 38 such attacks have been carried out in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated last week that “some top cartel drug-traffickers” in the region had decided to cease all narcotics operations indefinitely due to what he described as “highly effective” kinetic strikes in the Caribbean. However, he did not provide specific evidence or further details to substantiate the claim, which was made on his personal social media account.
President Trump has said the United States is in “armed conflict” with Latin American cartels and has defended the strikes as a necessary escalation to curb the flow of illegal drugs. The administration, however, has offered limited public evidence to support its assertions that those targeted were “narcoterrorists.”