Nearly 200 Killed in US Strikes on ‘Drug Boats' in Latin America
The U.S. killed two people in a strike on an alleged drug boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, the U.S. military said, bringing the total death toll in nearly nine months of the controversial campaign to nearly 200.
The two “narco-terrorists” were killed as the vessel passed along “known narco-trafficking routes,” the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which oversees American military forces in the Caribbean and Latin America, said in a statement.
It is the latest strike in what the U.S. government describes as a crackdown on drug trafficking into the country, which has attracted increased international criticism and close congressional scrutiny.
At least 196 people have been killed in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean since the initial attacks on suspected drug boats at the start of September 2025, according to government figures, although President Donald Trump’s administration has not publicly provided evidence that the boats were ferrying drugs.
The latest attack comes just a day after a U.S. strike on a separate vessel killed one man and left two survivors.
SOUTHCOM shared a 13-second video purporting to show Wednesday’s strike, which appears to show a projectile hitting a boat, fire and smoke quickly engulfing the vessel. The clip then briefly shows smoke billowing up from the boat and flames covering the remaining wreckage.
No U.S. forces were reported injured. The vessel was allegedly operated by an unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization, but SOUTHCOM did not provide further details.
The U.S. government has said it is in a legal “armed conflict” with drug cartels, insisting the campaign against alleged small drug vessels is necessary to clamp down on drug flows into the country and save American lives.
But international experts and some former officials have criticized the strikes as illegal under international law because the military is not allowed to target civilians that don’t pose an immediate threat. Lawmakers have looked more closely at the attacks since it emerged U.S. forces killed survivors of the first attack nearly nine months ago in a “double-tap” strike.
U.S. Congress and observers should “take immediate action” to block the strikes, human rights organization Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
The group called the attacks “extrajudicial killings at sea” and described the campaign as “unconscionable.”
The Pentagon’s watchdog said earlier this month it is investigating whether the U.S. military has followed the correct procedures when targeting boats.
The review was initiated internally within the Pentagon, the department’s inspector general’s office said. It’s not clear when the evaluation will be completed.
There was a lull in the number of strikes in January after elite U.S. forces swept into the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, and captured then-President Nicolás Maduro. Along with his wife, Maduro was brought to New York to face narco-terrorism charges and has since pleaded not guilty.
Ahead of the removal of the longtime Venezuelan leader, U.S. forces deployed in the Caribbean ballooned to include the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, before it was sent to the Middle East earlier this year.
But another carrier, the USS Nimitz, whic travels with several warships carrying long-range missiles, arrived in the Caribbean earlier this month to maintain a heavy U.S. military presence in the region, particularly around Cuba.
While the U.S. has floated the possibility of an invasion of the island to remove the communist government in Havana, it has appeared reluctant to commit to armed action.
A U.S. blockade has for months cut Cuba off from vital fuel imports, while new sanctions squeeze the island’s fragile economy. Cuba was heavily dependent on Venezuelan oil.
The U.S. has indicted former Cuban leader Raúl Castro over the shooting down of two aircraft 30 years ago, prompting experts to speculate the U.S. government could be trying to create a legal basis for military intervention in Cuba. Venezuela’s top officials were indicted prior to Maduro’s capture.
The U.S. is government is preparing for Cuba’s government to crumble and has planned how the U.S. military would respond if needed, the outlet Axios reported on Thursday, citing anonymous U.S. officials.
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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 9:15 AM.