By Hannah Parry, Gabe Whisnant, and John Feng
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The United States carried out another strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel Tuesday night, this time in the Pacific off the coast of South America.
It was the eighth known U.S. attack on a suspected drug boat since September 2. The previous seven strikes targeted boats in the Caribbean.
What To Know
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that two people had been killed in the U.S. strike.
- In a post on X, Hegseth said that "intelligence" had indicated that the boat was involved with narcotics smuggling.
- "Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere. Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness—only justice," Hegseth wrote.
- At least 34 people have been killed in the U.S. operations so far.
- The Trump administration has told Congress that the United States is engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.
- Two men survived a U.S. strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel that killed two in the Caribbean last week. The U.S has repatriated the men, one from Ecuador and one from Colombia.
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Oct 22, 2025 at 03:41 PM EDT
Ex-chief White House ethics lawyer warns latest strike on suspected drugs boat ‘violation of international law’
Former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter has warned that the U.S. military's latest strike on a suspected drugs vessel in the Pacific is a "violation of international law."
In a post on X on Wednesday, Painter, now a law professor, shared a link to an article about Tuesday's strike that left two dead.
"Again. This is murder and a violation of international law," wrote Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer between 2005 and 2007.
Oct 22, 2025 at 03:04 PM EDT
WATCH: Moment US military strikes alleged drug vessel in the Pacific
Oct 22, 2025 at 02:50 PM EDT
Trump vows to end US aid to Colombia as he hits back at president
President Donald Trump has said the U.S. will cut off funding and "any other form of payment" to Colombia after the South American country's president accused the U.S. of killing a Colombian national in the White House's drug-trafficking crackdown.
Trump on Sunday called Gustavo Petro an "illegal drug dealer" and accused the Colombian leader of "strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields." The Republican alleged Petro, a left-wing leader who has repeatedly criticized the White House, had not acted to stymie the drug trade in Colombia, "despite large-scale payments and subsidies from the USA."
As of Sunday, "these payments, or any other form of payment, or subsidies, will no longer be made" to the country, Trump said in a post to his Truth Social platform.
Petro earlier on Sunday accused Washington of "murder" after the U.S. military struck an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in what Washington said were international waters in mid-September.
Petro said the White House had violated Colombian sovereignty and killed a Colombian fisherman, named by the president as Alejandro Carranza, in its waters in the second of several strikes Trump has acknowledged close to Colombia and Venezuela since the start of September. Petro said Carranza had "no ties to the drug trade."
Read in full from Ellie Cook on Newsweek.
Oct 22, 2025 at 02:09 PM EDT
New map shows probable location of latest US strike on alleged drug vessel
Oct 22, 2025 at 02:00 PM EDT
Pete Hegseth says two ‘narco-terrorists’ killed in Tuesday’s strike
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that two people had been killed in a U.S. strike on a suspected drug vessel in the Eastern Pacific.
In a post on X, Hegseth said that "intelligence" had indicated that the boat was involved with narcotics smuggling.
"Both terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike," he wrote. "Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere. Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness—only justice."
Hegseth also shared a clip of the strike which showed a near-empty vessel moving through the ocean before it was destroyed by the blast.
Oct 22, 2025 at 01:54 PM EDT
Venezuela envoy to UN claims US is ‘fabricating a war’
Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s top envoy to the United Nations, has condemned the U.S.'s military actions in the region, saying that the United States is acting without justification to try and start a war.
"There is a killer prowling the Caribbean, bloodthirsty, looking for wars," he said, referring to the U.S. "There is no justification at all, they are fabricating a war."
Oct 22, 2025 at 01:43 PM EDT
Survivors of last week’s US strike on alleged drug boat returned to home countries
The two survivors from a Thursday U.S. military strike on a reported “drug carrying submarine” in the Caribbean, have been repatriated to their home countries of Ecuador and Colombia.
Ecuador released Andrés Fernando Tufiño after authorities said they had found no evidence that he had committed a crime.
The Colombian citizen, who has not been named, remains hospitalized after his repatriation.
Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said he "arrived with brain trauma, sedated, drugged, breathing with a ventilator."
On X, Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote on Saturday: "We received the Colombian detained in the narco submarine; we are glad that he is alive and he will be processed in accordance with the laws."
Two other men were killed in the strike.
President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Saturday that it was his "great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route."
“U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics.”
Oct 22, 2025 at 01:10 PM EDT
Pete Hegseth shares clip of last week’s boat strike off Venezuela
Defense Secretary Hegseth shared a clip of the U.S. military strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean off Venezuela on Sunday.
In an X post on Sunday, he wrote, "The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics."
The post also included video of Friday's strike, showing an explosion that Hegseth wrote killed "three male narco-terrorists."
The U.S. has carried out several strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the area since early September that has killed dozens.
President Donald Trump has made combating the opioid crisis, particularly the influx of illicit fentanyl, a central focus of his administration's policies. Earlier this year, to address the sources of fentanyl trafficking, he imposed tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada. There are some legitimate medical uses for fentanyl, including post-surgery and severe pain relief, but it is often mixed in with other illicit drugs and can be fatal.
Oct 22, 2025 at 01:04 PM EDT
Colombian president accuses US of ‘murdering’ fisherman in boat strike
Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, has accused Washington of "murder" after the U.S. military struck an alleged drug-trafficking vessel last month.
Petro said the White House had violated the South American country's sovereignty and killed a Colombian fisherman, named by the president as Alejandro Carranza. Colombian media reported Carranza was onboard a boat targeted by U.S. forces on September 15.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment via email.
Read in full from Ellie Cook on Newsweek.
Oct 22, 2025 at 12:52 PM EDT
Rand Paul reacts to US striking an alleged drug vessel in Pacific
Sen. Rand Paul slammed the Trump administration for carrying out a military strike on an alleged drug vessel off the coast of Venezuela.
“If you go off the coast of Miami, the Coast Guard will be stopping boats today, and about 25 percent of the boats they stop that they’re suspicious of drugs, there won’t be any drugs on board," he said on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Wednesday.
"So 25 percent of the time, the suspicion is wrong. But neither should we be blowing them up off the coast of Venezuela.”
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