The U.S. military attacked a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, resulting in the deaths of two men. This incident is the latest in a monthslong campaign by the Trump administration targeting alleged drug traffickers across Latin America.
The strike brings the total number of fatalities from U.S. military boat interdictions to at least 207 since the administration began its offensive against those it designates as “narcoterrorists” in early September.
U.S. Southern Command, in line with its usual statements on such operations in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea, reported targeting alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. However, the military did not provide any evidence to substantiate that the vessel was indeed ferrying drugs. A video posted on X showed a boat speeding through the water before it burst into flames.
President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”
Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.
The strikes have drawn intense scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military legal scholars. The U.S. military’s first strike in early September drew particular concern from some lawmakers and those who study military law.
Two men on the boat initially survived the attack that killed nine others, and they were clinging to the wreckage when the vessel was struck again, killing them. The White House confirmed the follow-up strike, insisting it was done “in self-defense” to ensure the boat was destroyed and in accordance with the laws of armed conflict. But some legal scholars said a second strike killing survivors would have been illegal under any circumstance, armed conflict or not.
The Pentagon’s watchdog said in May that it plans to look into whether the U.S. military followed an established targeting framework when carrying out the strikes. However, the evaluation is focused specifically on what’s known as the six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle and not on the legality of the strikes, the inspector general’s office said.
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