US military strike on suspected drug-smuggling boat kills four in Caribbean
The US military said it carried out a strike on a boat suspected of being involved in drug smuggling in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday, killing four people.
The latest operation is part of the Trump administration's yearlong campaign against people it accuses of trafficking drugs in Latin America.
With Sunday's strike, at least 235 people have now been killed in 70 US military strikes on boats since the administration began targeting individuals it describes as "narcoterrorists" in September 2025.
US Southern Command said, as in previous statements on operations in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, that the latest strike targeted alleged drug traffickers travelling along established smuggling routes.
The military, however, did not provide evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs. A video posted on X showed what appeared to be an explosion destroying a moving boat. The military described the vessel as a go-fast boat.
The Trump administration is also negotiating with allied countries to expand its campaign against alleged criminal groups to land operations in several Latin American nations.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Panama in August that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow joint US military operations against criminal groups on their territory. Guatemala, however, denied that it had reached such an agreement. Ecuador began similar operations with the US in March.
President Donald Trump has said the United States is in an "armed conflict" with Latin American cartels and defended the strikes as necessary to curb the flow of drugs into the US and prevent fatal overdoses.
However, the administration has provided limited evidence to substantiate its claims that the operations have killed drug smugglers. (with inputs from Associated Press)
