WASHINGTON — The U.S. military says it destroyed two small boats suspected of drug smuggling in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing five people and leaving one survivor. The strikes are part of an expanding campaign the Trump administration has described as aimed at “narcoterrorists” in Latin America.
U.S. Southern Command said the vessels were struck along known trafficking routes but did not present evidence that the boats were carrying drugs. Videos posted on X showed small craft moving across the water before each was hit and consumed in a bright explosion. Southern Command said it alerted the U.S. Coast Guard to begin search-and-rescue efforts; the Coast Guard confirmed it is coordinating the search and will provide updates.
Saturday’s deaths bring to at least 168 the number of people killed in U.S. military boat strikes in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean since the campaign began in early September. President Donald Trump has framed the campaign as part of an “armed conflict” with cartels and defended the strikes as necessary to curb drug flows and reduce overdose deaths in the United States. The administration, however, has released little public evidence that those killed were the “narcoterrorists” it has labeled.
Critics have questioned the legality and effectiveness of the strikes, noting that a large share of the fentanyl driving U.S. overdoses is trafficked overland from Mexico and is produced there with precursor chemicals from China and India. The operations have continued even as some U.S. forces remain focused on the Middle East, where the U.S. was recently involved in a weeks-long confrontation with Iran.
On Sunday, Trump said the U.S. Navy would begin a blockade of ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz after ceasefire talks with Iran in Pakistan ended without agreement. He said the move was intended to reduce Iran’s leverage; U.S. Central Command said the blockade would involve Iranian ports.