The United States military has announced an attack on another vessel allegedly involved in drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The strike occurred the previous day, with initial reports indicating three survivors, but the US Coast Guard later stated that two of the three were found dead, and only one person was recovered alive.
US Southern Command, which oversees military activities in Latin America, posted on social media that the strike was based on intelligence confirming the "low-profile vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations". However, no specific evidence was provided. Following the engagement, the command immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for survivors.
An accompanying black-and-white video shows a small boat being bombed and bursting into flames. According to the news agency Reuters, the survivor and the remains of those killed were transferred to the Costa Rican Coast Guard. This strike is the latest in a lethal campaign targeting alleged drug trafficking boats off the coast of Latin America.
The campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, has now killed at least 159 people in 46 separate incidents, based on government announcements about the attacks. The attacks began on September 2, 2025, and it is rare for the US government to announce survivors. International legal scholars have denounced these strikes as a campaign of extrajudicial killings and warned that those involved could face prosecution.
The administration of President Donald Trump has argued that the lethal strikes are aimed at deterring drug trafficking, but it has come under heavy criticism, particularly after it was revealed in December that the first boat attack on September 2 left two survivors who were subsequently killed in a double-tap strike. Democrats have pushed for video of that incident to be released, but the Trump administration has so far declined to do so, and it has not produced public evidence to justify the attacks or identified those it has killed. Some families in Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago have claimed that the victims were fishermen or informal workers transiting across the Caribbean for employment.
Source: www.aljazeera.com