The U.S. military carried out a lethal strike June 18 on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific that killed three men the command described as “narco-terrorists,” U.S. Southern Command said Thursday.
In a statement, SOUTHCOM said Gen. Francis L. Donovan directed Joint Task Force Southern Spear to conduct the strike. The command said intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting known narco-trafficking routes and was engaged in “narco-trafficking operations.”
SOUTHCOM released a brief video that it said showed a vessel speeding through the water before erupting in flames and additional footage that appeared to show debris floating afterward. The command said no U.S. military personnel were harmed and did not say whether anyone survived the attack. It did not identify the exact location of the operation beyond the Eastern Pacific trafficking routes.
The strike was the latest in a months-long campaign the Trump administration has expanded against cartel-linked trafficking networks. The Associated Press reported this month that U.S. military strikes targeting vessels since September have killed at least 211 people, according to its count. SOUTHCOM said earlier this week that a separate strike in the Eastern Pacific killed one person and left two survivors.
The campaign has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers, legal experts and human rights groups questioning the legal basis for lethal military force against suspected traffickers outside a traditional battlefield, the command said. President Donald Trump last week announced SOUTHCOM had “delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike” that killed Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, also known as Niño Guerrero; the U.S. Department of State had offered up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction. The military has released videos and statements linking targeted vessels to designated terrorist organizations but has generally not publicly released evidence showing narcotics on the vessels or identifying those killed.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
