The U.S. strikes an alleged drug vessel off the coast of Colombia
MEXICO CITY — The United States has hit an eighth ship, this time in the Pacific Ocean, allegedly carrying drugs, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.
Hegseth said that two people died in the air strike in the eastern Pacific, and the death toll in the latest attacks on US drug boats increased to 34.
One short video clip The photo, published by Hegseth on
In his social media post, Hegseth compared alleged drug traffickers to violent terrorists.
“Just like Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people,” Hegseth said. “There will be no refuge or forgiveness; there will be only justice.”
Since taking office in January, President Trump has gone out of his way to portray Latin American drug traffickers as a threat to national security; officially designated many cartels as terrorist groups and ordered the Pentagon to use military force against them.
Trump, who said the United States was locked in an “armed conflict” with the cartels, deployed nearly 10,000 U.S. troops and a small armada of ships and fighter jets to the Caribbean.
There have been attacks before in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela.
Tuesday’s strike was the first in the Pacific. Although the exact location was not disclosed, the incident occurred off the coast of Colombia.
Trump has verbally sparred in recent days with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has accused the United States of killing innocent civilians and using the attacks to oust Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.
After Petro accused the United States of murder and said an earlier attack had killed a Colombian fisherman in Colombian waters, Trump said without evidence that Petro was a “drug dealer” and warned that the United States would take unilateral action to combat drug traffickers there.
