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By Robert Birsel and John Feng
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The United States carried out another strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat on Wednesday, killing three men in the second strike on a vessel in the Pacific Ocean in two days, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
It was the ninth known U.S. attack on a suspected drug boat since September 2. Seven of the nine strikes have targeted boats in the Caribbean.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump has made combating the opioid crisis, particularly the influx of illicit fentanyl, a central focus of his administration's policies but the strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and now the Pacific, have prompted strong condemnation from regional governments and some U.S. lawmakers, reigniting debate over the scope of presidential war powers and the role of U.S. military force in Latin America.
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What To Know
Hegseth said in a statement that at the direction of the president a “lethal kinetic strike” was carried out in international waters on a vessel with three men on board operated by a “Designated Terrorist Organization" (DTO).
“The now-deceased terrorists were engaged in narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific,” he said.
“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and was carrying narcotics,” he said.
South American leaders, including Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, have denounced the strikes as an attack on their sovereignty and suggested that the people killed may not be hardened criminals but marginalized youths.
Petro characterized the strikes as "murder," while human rights groups and some U.S. lawmakers called for greater transparency regarding the identities of those targeted and the legal rationale for lethal force.
Senate Republicans on October 8 blocked a measure proposed by their Democratic colleagues aimed at halting the attacks. 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 on October 16.
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site, said the two were "being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution."
What People Are Saying
Hegseth said: “These strikes will continue, day after day. These are not simply drug runners—these are narco-terrorists bringing death and destruction to our cities. These DTOs are the ‘Al Qaeda’ of our hemisphere and will not escape justice. We will find them and kill them, until the threat to the American people is extinguished.”
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff said on October 8: “For perhaps the first time in our history, a president of the United States ordered the U.S. military to use lethal force against individuals who posed no imminent threat of attack and who could have been stopped thousands of miles from our shore had we interdicted and arrested those on board, just as they routinely are by our Coast Guard.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Wednesday: “The bottom line is these are drug boats, if people want to stop seeing drug boats blown up, stop sending drugs to the United States.”
What Happens Next
The Trump administration signaled it would expand military interventions against suspected drug traffickers, announcing plans for a new Joint Task Force led by U.S. Southern Command.
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