US military kills five people in strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in Pacific
The US military has attacked and destroyed two boats on the Pacific coast of South America for the first time as part of its ongoing and controversial fight against what it describes as drug trafficking activities.
Five people were killed in the attacks Tuesday night and early Wednesday, according to U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth. Previous attacks had hit seven ships and killed at least 32 people in the Caribbean.
The latest attacks marked a departure from previous attacks off the coast of Venezuela, where the United States has deployed an extraordinary military presence.
Hegseth posted a short video of his strike Tuesday night, showing a small boat half-filled with brown packages seen moving at sea. A few seconds into the video, the boat explodes and is seen floating motionless in flames.
In a post on social media, Hegseth took the unusual step of equating alleged drug traffickers with the terrorist group that carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
“Just like Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people,” Hegseth said, adding that “there will be no asylum or forgiveness, only justice.”
The administration expanded the scope of its campaign with strike boats in the Pacific, but the reasons for the expansion were not immediately clear. The White House did not respond to a request for comment, and Hegseth provided no additional details about X beyond the video.
Donald Trump announced what appeared to be the first attack on a boat on September 3 by posting a short video of the attack.
The Trump administration has since detailed more attacks without revealing many details about the targets other than the number of people killed and the allegations that the boats were carrying narcotics. The attacks sparked widespread condemnation from both civil liberties groups and South American countries.
On Tuesday the Guardian revealed: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) provides much of the intelligence used to carry out air strikes. Experts say the agency’s central role means much of the evidence used to select targets will almost certainly remain secret.
Minister approved Last Wednesday, he said he allowed the CIA to take covert action in Venezuela but did not say what the agency would do.
White House officials have attempted to justify the increasing number of attacks with a dubious legal theory that claims the boats are linked to “designated terrorist organizations” with which the United States is currently engaged in a “non-international armed conflict,” the Guardian reported.
Until this month, the administration referred to Tren de Aragua and other cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, or FTOs. Legal experts have argued that simply characterizing drug cartels as FTOs does not give the administration any additional authority to use lethal force.
White House officials also sought to justify the attacks at home and abroad by claiming that Trump was exercising his two-article authority, which allows the president to use military force in self-defense in limited conflicts.
The self-defense argument revolves around Trump’s designation of Tren de Aragua as an FTO; The claim was made by Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, in defense of the deportation of dozens of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act earlier this year.
The administration claimed that Tren de Aragua had infiltrated the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and that the presence of cartel members in the United States therefore amounted to a “predatory attack” by a foreign nation that authorized the deportation of any Venezuelan citizen.
But the administration has yet to provide concrete evidence that Tren de Aragua has become a tool of the Venezuelan government, and legal experts contacted for this story said the White House can justify the attacks only if it can show that.
Attacks on alleged Venezuelan drug ships are largely overseen by Miller and his top lieutenant on the White House homeland security council (HSC), Tony Salisbury. The Guardian previously reported.
Earlier this year, Miller authorized HSC to become its own organization during Trump’s second term; this was a notable departure from previous administrations, when it was considered part of the national security council and ultimately reported to the national security advisor.
This was the case, for example, when the second Venezuelan boat was hit by hellfire missiles on September 15. While the White House was informed that the Pentagon had identified the boat as a viable target more than four days ago, many senior White House officials only learned of the impending attack hours before it occurred.
Reuters contributed to this report
