The U.S. military has carried out another strike against a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean, resulting in the immediate deaths of two individuals and leaving six survivors.
This latest incident, occurring on Sunday, marks one of more than 60 such operations and brings the total number of fatalities from US military boat strikes to over 210 people. These strikes have been ongoing since an initiative launched by the Trump administration in early September, which aimed to target those it labels "narcoterrorists" as part of a broader campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America.
The fate of the six survivors from Sunday's strike remains uncertain. U.S. Central Command stated that it notified the U.S. Coast Guard regarding this incident, as it did for a previous strike on June 16 that also left two survivors.
While the Coast Guard confirmed suspending its search for the June 16 strike a day later, reporting "no signs of survivors or debris," it has yet to comment on the most recent operation.
As with most of the military’s statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs.
A black and white video posted on X showed a boat speeding through the water before being struck by a visible projectile and then bursting into flames.
President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”
Critics of the strikes have questioned the overall legality as well as their effectiveness. Part of the argument has been that the fentanyl behind many fatal U.S. drug overdoses is typically trafficked over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.
On Thursday, U.S. lawmakers demanded that the Pentagon release “unedited video” of the very first strike that the military conducted after reports emerged that the U.S. chose to conduct a follow-up strike on survivors of its initial attack.
Two men on the boat initially survived the attack that killed nine others, and they were clinging to the wreckage when the vessel was struck again, killing them. The White House confirmed the follow-up strike, insisting it was done “in self-defense” to ensure the boat was destroyed and in accordance with the laws of armed conflict.
But some legal scholars said a second strike killing survivors would have been illegal under any circumstance, armed conflict or not.
The Pentagon’s watchdog said in May that it planned to look into whether the U.S. military followed an established targeting framework when carrying out the strikes. However, the evaluation is focused specifically on what’s known as the six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle and not on the legality of the strikes, the inspector general’s office said.
