3 killed in latest U.S. strike on alleged drug boat in eastern Pacific, Pentagon says

Three people were killed Wednesday in yet another U.S. strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the eastern Pacific, the Pentagon reported.

U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Latin America, said in a social media post that the “lethal kinetic strike” in the eastern Pacific targeted “a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” killing “three male narco-terrorists.”

An unclassified video of the strike was included with the post.

On Tuesday, a similar U.S. strike against an alleged drug boat in the eastern Pacific killed four people, while a strike Monday killed two people, SOUTHCOM said.  

Two strikes Saturday on two separate vessels left five people dead and one survivor, SOUTHCOM reported. The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for the survivor.

Wednesday’s strike brings the death toll to at least 178 since the operations began in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean in early September. At least 53 vessels have been targeted.

President Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”

The strikes began months ahead of the U.S. raid in January that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty.

Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.