US military officials have announced that American forces struck three suspected drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, killing 11 people. The operation on Monday was one of the deadliest days in the Trump administration's campaign against alleged traffickers.
The fatalities bring the total number of people killed by US strikes to 145 since September, when President Donald Trump ordered the military to target individuals deemed 'narco-terrorists' aboard small vessels. There have been 42 known strikes in notorious drug-trafficking routes, including the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, according to Associated Press reports.
US Southern Command released video footage of the strikes on social media, stating that intelligence confirmed the vessels were operating along known narco-trafficking routes. Officials reported four deaths on one boat in the eastern Pacific, four on another, and three on a vessel in the Caribbean. No US personnel were harmed.
Legal experts have questioned the initiative, describing it as extrajudicial killings without due process. The Washington Office on Latin America criticised the administration for asserting 'an apparently unlimited license to kill people that the president deems to be terrorists'.
The strikes follow the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last month, who is to face trial in New York on drug and narco-terrorism charges. The Pentagon has deployed over a dozen warships near Venezuela to block drug trafficking and illegal oil trade, though several vessels have since been redirected towards Iran.
