The US military has carried out another airstrike on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean, killing four people, according to US Southern Command.
According to US Southern Command, the strike targeted suspected drug traffickers operating along "established drug trafficking routes" in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. It is the latest in a series of military operations aimed at suspected criminal gangs on international waters.
With the latest attack, the total death toll from US military airstrikes on boats allegedly carrying drugs has reached at least 235 people across 70 strikes since the administration of President Donald Trump launched its narco-terrorism campaign, Operation Southern Spear, last September.
At the time, Trump described the war on criminal gangs in Latin America as an ongoing "armed conflict," and justified the airstrikes as necessary to curb illegal drug trafficking and reduce overdose deaths in the United States.
The development comes as UN experts warn that such airstrikes violate international law and could constitute crimes against humanity.
Although it has released video on X showing the explosion destroying a moving boat, the US military has not provided evidence that the targeted boat was carrying drugs.
The Trump administration is actively seeking regional security agreements across Latin America to expand joint military operations against what it calls criminal gangs. These agreements fall under the US-led Shield of the Americas alliance, launched in March. The US president pledged the initiative would use "unmatched military power" to dismantle drug gangs, while also countering China's economic influence in the Western Hemisphere.
During a visit to Panama in August, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to joint military operations against crime on their territory. However, Guatemala quickly pushed back, reaffirming its sovereignty and borders within the 19-member alliance.
