The U.S. military has confirmed another strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea, resulting in the deaths of three individuals on Sunday.
It forms part of an ongoing campaign by the Trump administration, which has seen alleged drug-trafficking vessels targeted in Latin American waters since early September.
The strikes have claimed at least 181 lives in total, with other operations also occurring in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Despite global tensions, including the Iran war, the frequency of these strikes has intensified over the past week, underscoring the administration’s unwavering aggressive stance against what it terms “narcoterrorism” in the Western Hemisphere.
However, the military has yet to provide any evidence confirming that the targeted vessels were indeed carrying drugs.
The attacks commenced following a significant build-up of U.S. military presence in the region, the largest in generations.
This escalation preceded the January raid that led to the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was subsequently brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Regarding Sunday’s attack, U.S. Southern Command reiterated previous statements, saying that it had targeted alleged drug traffickers operating along known smuggling routes.
A video posted on X depicted a boat moving across the water before being engulfed in flames by a massive explosion.
President Donald Trump has previously declared the U.S. to be in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America, justifying the attacks as a necessary escalation to curb the flow of drugs into the United States and combat fatal overdoses.
Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.
On Wednesday, four people were killed in an alleged drug boat strike in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The military earlier said it struck two boats on Saturday and a third on Monday.
The military said all the vessels were “operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations” and that intelligence confirmed they “were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations” but did not provide evidence.
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