War Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed on Sunday that the U.S. military carried out its seventh known strike on a drug trafficking vessel in the Caribbean region, killing three people aboard.
Hegseth said the “lethal kinetic strike” occurred on Friday at the direction of President Donald Trump. The target was affiliated with Colombia’s National Liberation Army, a designated terrorist organization, and was traveling in the jurisdiction that falls under U.S. Southern Command’s responsibility.
“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics,” Hegseth posted on X, sharing unclassified footage of the strike.
“There were three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike—which was conducted in international waters. All three terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike,” he said.
This is the latest in a series of confirmed strikes on drug vessels near Venezuela in the Caribbean region since early September.
Trump accuses the leaders of Venezuela and Colombia of aiding and abetting drug trafficking, which his administration intends to continue targeting by sea and vows to extend to land operations.
Last week, Trump announced he authorized the CIA to conduct clandestine operations within Venezuela to undermine Nicolas Maduro’s regime. In the U.S., Maduro is indicted on narco-terrorism and drug-trafficking charges.
Trump is taking further action against Colombian President Gustavo Petro, whom he called an “illegal drug leader” on Sunday, by cutting U.S. subsidies to the South American country. He also threatened to strike Colombia’s drug fields.
Petro “better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The U.S. military’s presence in the Caribbean has garnered pushback from many Democrats and a few Republicans. Among Trump’s detractors in this context is Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who argued that the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug traffickers in the boat strikes go against American tradition.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration maintains its military strikes are necessary to protect the U.S. from drug smugglers.
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“These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people,” Hegseth said. “The United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are—they will be hunted, and killed, just like Al Qaeda.”
On Saturday, Trump announced a “drug-carrying submarine” had been struck and two “narcoterrorists” aboard the vessel had been killed. He said the remaining two survivors, one from Ecuador and the other from Colombia, would be returned to their native countries for detention and prosecution. The move avoids a protracted legal fight that could challenge Trump’s crackdown on drug cartels.
