US military kills three more in deadly Pacific drug boat strike as questions over legality mount

The U.S. military carried out another strike on Tuesday against a vessel suspected of drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific Ocean, resulting in the deaths of three men.

This incident follows a similar attack a day earlier in the Caribbean Sea, which killed two individuals aboard an alleged drug boat.

The Trump administration’s campaign of destroying suspected drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters has been ongoing since early September, with a total death toll now reaching at least 191 people.

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Despite global tensions, these strikes have intensified in recent weeks, underscoring the administration’s unwavering commitment to what it terms "narcoterrorism" in the Western Hemisphere. However, the military has yet to provide any evidence that the targeted vessels were actually carrying drugs.

These operations commenced as the U.S. established its largest military presence in the region in generations, months before 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 and has pleaded not guilty.

In Tuesday’s attack, U.S. Southern Command stated it had targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes, posting a video on X depicting a boat cruising before a large explosion engulfed it in flames.

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President Donald Trump has 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.

Yet, his administration has offered scant evidence to substantiate its claims of eliminating "narcoterrorists." Critics, meanwhile, continue to question the overall legality of these boat strikes.