The U.S. military said Monday that it struck a drug boat in the Caribbean Sea, killing at least three alleged narco-terrorists in the latest strike on such vessels in recent weeks.
The military "conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations," said the U.S. Southern Command in a post on X, including a video of the incident. "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations."
It is not clear which terrorist group the U.S. military was referring to in the post. Last year, a number of drug cartels, including the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and several gangs were designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.
No U.S. service members were injured in the mission, said Southern Command.
Starting in September, the U.S. military has launched strikes targeting drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. The Trump administration has said that drug-trafficking vessels pose a national security threat.
On Feb. 20, Southern Command said it carried out a strike on a drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing at least three with no harm to U.S. personnel. Days before that, the military said it struck three drug boats in the eastern Pacific that left what it said were 11 suspected narco-terrorists dead.
“Although friendly foreign nations have made significant efforts to combat these organizations, suffering significant losses of life, these groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere as organized cartels,” last year's White House report said. “Therefore, the President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States.”
In September, Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced a measure calling for the cessation of U.S. strikes on the vessels because they were not carried out with the approval of Congress.
“Congress alone holds the power to declare war,” Schiff said as he announced the resolution. “And while we share with the executive branch the imperative of preventing and deterring drugs from reaching our shores, blowing up boats without any legal justification risks dragging the United States into another war and provoking unjustified hostilities against our own citizens.”
The strikes come as the Trump administration has built up a large U.S. military presence in the Caribbean that ultimately led to the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January. Maduro, who was captured in an American military raid in Venezuela, was taken to the United States to face drug trafficking charges, and he later pleaded not guilty.
It also comes as the Mexican government killed the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes, in an operation on Sunday, leading to cartel reprisal attacks.