US military kills four in strike on alleged drug smuggling boat in Caribbean

The US military killed four people when it attacked a suspected drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea on Tuesday as the Trump administration’s controversial campaign against alleged traffickers continues.

The latest attack brings the number of those killed in boat strikes by the US military to at least 227 in 68 strikes since the US began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” almost a year ago.

As with most of the military’s statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, US Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence the vessel was ferrying drugs.

A video posted on X showed what appeared to be a moving boat followed by a flash.

The attacks have been condemned as extrajudicial killings by the UN and other humanitarian organisations.

According to a 2020 report by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, 74% of the cocaine reaching the US arrived through the Pacific while only 8% came from fast boats from the Caribbean.

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 US over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.

Tuesday’s strike came just two days after the US military carried out a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people accused of trafficking drugs. That deadly strike came after a pause of more than two months in the US campaign against alleged smugglers.

The Trump administration is pursuing deals with allied nations to extend its offensive to land across multiple Latin American countries.

The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said during a visit to Panama this month that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow the US to carry out joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil. Guatemala denied reaching such a deal. Ecuador launched similar missions with the US in March.

Donald Trump has said the US 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 US and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing smugglers.