The US has bombed yet another boat that it claimed, without providing evidence, was carrying drugs in the waters of Latin America, according to a statement from US War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth announced the strike on Wednesday night and said that the vessel was targeted in the eastern Pacific, marking the second such strike in the area. Earlier in the day, he announced the first known US bombing in the area, as the seven previous strikes targeted boats in the Caribbean.
Hegseth claimed that the boat was being operated by a “Designated Terrorist Organization” and killed three “narco-terrorists,” but provided nothing to back up his claims. The latest strike brings the total number of people extrajudicially executed by the US military at sea to 37.
The Trump administration has used the term “narco-terrorist” to justify killing people for an alleged crime that is not punishable by death in the US. Hegseth has also made clear that the bombing campaign is an extension of the US War on Terror.
“These strikes will continue, day after day. These are not simply drug runners—these are narco-terrorists bringing death and destruction to our cities. These DTOs are the ‘Al Qaeda’ of our hemisphere and will not escape justice. We will find them and kill them, until the threat to the American people is extinguished,” he said.
In several cases, family members have insisted that the victims were not drug traffickers, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused the US of murder over a strike that killed a Colombian fisherman, he said had “no ties to the drug trade.” In one strike, two survivors were found, including an Ecuadorian who was returned to his country and released by his government because there was no evidence he had committed a crime.
US officials have been clear that the ultimate goal of the US military campaign in the Caribbean, which has involved a substantial buildup of US forces, is to carry out regime change in Venezuela. President Trump has confirmed that he has authorized the CIA to take covert action inside Venezuela and suggested this week that US military strikes on Venezuelan territory could start soon.
