US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Tuesday that the US has bombed yet another boat in the waters of Latin America that he claimed, without providing evidence, was carrying drugs in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
The strike brings the total number of boats the US has bombed since early September to 17, including nine that were targeted in the Caribbean and eight that were hit in the Eastern Pacific. Hegseth said two “narcoterrorists,” a term used to justify extra-judicial executions at sea, were killed, bringing the total number of people killed in the campaign to 66.
“We will find and terminate EVERY vessel with the intention of trafficking drugs to America to poison our citizens. Protecting the homeland is our TOP priority. NO cartel terrorist stands a chance against the American military,” Hegseth wrote on X.
The latest strike came as the bombing campaign is coming under increasing scrutiny from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. After a congressional briefing on the strikes last week, where the Pentagon admitted it didn’t know the identities of the people it killed, Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) said the military campaign would still be illegal even if it was authorized by Congress.
“[T]here’s nothing that we heard in there that changes my assessment that this is completely illegal, that it is unlawful and even if Congress authorized it, it would still be illegal because there are extrajudicial killings where we have no evidence,” Jacobs said.
Republicans who were briefed also said they were unhappy with the lack of a legal justification for the strikes. “People were very frustrated in the information that was being provided. It was a bipartisan briefing, but people were not happy with the level information that was provided, and certainly the level of legal justification that was provided,” said Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH).
The Trump administration has also continued its military buildup in the Caribbean, aimed at ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and is reportedly considering a range of options for attacking Venezuela.
