Three people were killed in the latest US military strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the US Southern Command has said. The attack, which was confirmed in a video posted on social media, brings the total number of fatalities from the campaign to 186 since it began in early September.
The Southern Command claimed the vessel was transporting drugs, but has provided no evidence that any of the boats destroyed in the operation were carrying illicit substances. The video shows a boat moving swiftly before a large explosion engulfs it in flames.
The strikes are part of a broader US military build-up in Latin America and the Caribbean, which President Donald Trump has described as an 'armed conflict' with cartels. The campaign is intended to stem the flow of drugs into the United States, though critics note that fentanyl — responsible for most fatal overdoses — is typically trafficked overland from Mexico.
Previous attacks include a strike on 15 April that killed four people in the eastern Pacific, and another on the previous Sunday that left three dead in the Caribbean Sea. The US military has said all vessels were operated by 'Designated Terrorist Organizations' and were engaged in narco-trafficking, but has not released supporting intelligence.
The legality and effectiveness of the strikes have been questioned by lawmakers from both parties and human rights groups. Senator Rand Paul said: 'We don't blow up boats off Miami because 25 per cent of the time suspicion is wrong. We shouldn't do it off Venezuela either.' Amnesty International has described the operations as 'murder'.
