The US military has bombed another alleged drug boat in the waters of Latin America, according to a statement from US War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth said the vessel was targeted in the Eastern Pacific and provided no evidence to back up the claims that it was carrying drugs. He claimed the strike killed four “narco-terrorists,” a term the Trump administration is using to justify the extrajudicial executions at sea.
The attack brings the total number of boats the US has bombed since September 2 to 15, and the total number of people killed in the campaign to 61, according to numbers released by the Trump administration. Eight boats were hit in the Caribbean, and seven were targeted in the Eastern Pacific.
A day earlier, Hegseth announced the bombing of four boats in a single day and said one survivor was rescued by the Mexican government, signaling the US is escalating the campaign. Hegseth has made clear that the bombings won’t stop and has drawn parallels to the US War on Terror, which continues to this day.
“The Western Hemisphere is no longer a safe haven for narco-terrorists bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans. The Department of War will continue to hunt them down and eliminate them wherever they operate,” Hegseth said on Wednesday.
The US military has also continued its campaign in the Caribbean aimed at toppling Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. On Monday, the US conducted its third bomber flight near Venezuela’s coast, and the War Department recently announced that it is deploying an aircraft carrier to the region.
