US Southern Command announced it conducted a strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and killed two people suspected of trafficking narcotics.
“Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific,” SOUTHCOM posted on X Monday. “Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking. The operation killed two narco-terrorists.”
“This operation is a clear and decisive reminder that SOUTHCOM is taking the fight directly to the cartels.”
On August 23, under #SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan’s direction, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel… pic.twitter.com/aIw1qn36gd
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) August 24, 2026
Last year, President Donald Trump authorized the Department of War to conduct lethal attacks against suspected drug boats in Latin America. SOUTHCOM conducted dozens of attacks on vessels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, killing more than 200 people.
The White House has asserted that the targeted boats are operated by narco-terrorists attempting to smuggle fentanyl into the US. However, the administration has not offered the American people any evidence to support the claim.
Additionally, some evidence suggests that at least some of the vessels that have been attacked were not involved in narcotics trafficking. The family members of several victims have said their slain relatives were fishermen.
Last month, The Washington Post reported reviewing a DEA assessment that found the strikes on vessels operated by alleged narco-terrorists have not changed the amount or price of cocaine entering the US. US military officials also admitted to Congress that the operations have had no impact on purity.
The DEA said that cartels have designed new methods to smuggle drugs into the US. Cartels have bribed Colombian officials to get the location of US warships and used small aircraft for alternative routes to traffic cocaine into the US. “When you squeeze the balloon on one side, it always expands on the other side,” one DEA official told The Post. “They always find the weak spots and exploit them.”
A senior Colombian official also told the outlet that the US military operations have had little impact on the cartels. “There was a dissuasive effect in one type of transportation,” they explained. “So it has forced them to seek out other methods. Taking the drugs out through ports has increased, stockpiling it on large ships.”
Congress has not authorized the President to wage war against foreign drug cartels. The White House has attempted to justify the lethal operation by designating the cartels as narco-terrorists. However, drug smuggling is a criminal act, not an act of war. Senator Rand Paul has argued the strikes amount to extrajudicial killing.
