U.S. strikes another alleged drug boat in Eastern Pacific, killing 4, Pentagon says
Four people were killed Wednesday in a US military strike on a suspected drug smuggling boat in the Eastern Pacific, the Pentagon said. He marks the last in a series strikes dating back to early September that the United States has carried out against what it claims are drug trafficking vessels in the region.
In a social media post, U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Central and South America, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a “lethal kinetic strike against a vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization in international waters.”
As has been the case in previous strikes of this type, Southern Command also released an unclassified video showing the boat being struck.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was transiting a known narcotics trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narcotics trafficking operations,” Southern Command said.
The victims were described as “four male narcoterrorists”. The U.S. military has provided no evidence to support claims that the boat was carrying drugs.
The US military has carried out 26 strikes against suspected drug trafficking ships in the Eastern Pacific or Caribbean since September 2, killing at least 99 people, according to the Pentagon.
In recent weeks, the strikes have come under renewed scrutiny after the White House, following a Washington Post report, confirmed that in the attack of September 2the same boat was hit twice, or what was described as a “double tap” or consecutive strike.
Two sources told CBS News that the next strike killed two people who had survived the first strike and were saluting overhead. A separate source close to the file told CBS News as the two survivors tried to get back on the boat.
A total of 11 people were killed in the two September 2 strikes, according to the US military.
While the video of the September 2 strikes was shown According to some congressional lawmakers in classified briefings, there was pressure for the Pentagon to release the video. However, Hegseth, speaking on Tuesday at the Capitol, said he wouldn’t do it.
“Of course, we are not going to release a top-secret, complete, unedited video to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters.
Some lawmakers and legal experts have argued that the second strike could constitute a war crime.
The strikes on the ships are part of a pressure campaign by the Trump administration against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, whom it accuses of being involved in drug trafficking to the United States and collaborating with drug cartels. Venezuela has criticized the boat strikes and Maduro denies working with drug cartels. The Venezuelan government has accused the Trump administration of seeking regime change.
The United States has significantly accelerated its military presence in the Caribbean and near Latin America, and President Trump has said he will not rule out either send troops in Venezuela or carry out ground strikes there.
The American army seized a sanctioned tanker near Venezuela last week. And on Tuesday, Mr. Trump announcement he had ordered a “total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela.
Wednesday, an effort by House Democrats It was not possible to force a vote on two war powers resolutions that would limit the president’s authority to strike Venezuela or continue strikes against suspected drug-trafficking boats.
