Pentagon Says U.S. Strike Kills Four on Suspected Drug-Smuggling Boat in Caribbean
The U.S. military struck a boat suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea on Saturday, killing four people, the Pentagon said, as the Trump administration presses ahead with a monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America.
The strike raises the reported death toll from U.S. military boat attacks in the region to at least 231 people across 69 operations since the Trump administration began targeting what it calls “narcoterrorists” about a year ago.
U.S. Southern Command said the vessel was traveling along a known smuggling route, the same justification it has given for most strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The command did not release evidence that the boat was carrying drugs. A video posted on X showed what appeared to be a moving boat before a flash.
The operation comes as the administration seeks agreements with allied governments to expand its offensive from the sea to land in several Latin American countries. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a trip to Panama last month that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow joint U.S. military operations against criminal groups on their territory. Guatemala denied that any such deal had been reached.
Ecuador began similar missions with the United States in March. Last month, U.S. forces worked with Ecuador to board and sink a vessel that Southern Command said was allegedly being used as a refueling station for drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific.
President Trump has described the United States as being in an “armed conflict” with Latin American cartels and framed the strikes as a necessary escalation to stop the flow of drugs into the country and fatal overdoses. But his administration has provided little public evidence to support its claims that those killed were smugglers.
The first strike of the campaign, on Sept. 2, 2025, hit the same boat twice in what has been described as a “double tap” or follow-on strike. Sources previously told CBS News that the second strike killed two people who had survived the first and were waving overhead. The U.S. military said 11 people were killed in the two strikes combined.
Some lawmakers and legal experts have questioned whether the strikes are lawful and have said the so-called double-tap may have amounted to a war crime. The expanding campaign is likely to intensify scrutiny of the administration’s legal rationale, its evidence for targeting boats, and the willingness of regional partners to assist operations.