The U.S. military says it carried out a strike on a boat suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people in the latest operation in the Trump administration’s campaign against alleged drug traffickers in the region.
U.S. Southern Command said the strike was conducted on October 4 by Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere against a “go-fast” vessel operating along established drug-trafficking routes in the Caribbean. The command said intelligence had confirmed the vessel’s involvement in narcotics trafficking and described the four people killed as “narco-terrorists.”
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However, the military did not publicly provide evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs or identify the people who were killed. A video released by the military showed what appeared to be an explosion destroying a moving boat.
The strike brings the reported number of people killed in U.S. military attacks on suspected drug-trafficking boats since September 2025 to at least 235 across 70 strikes, according to figures cited by the Associated Press. The operations have taken place in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific.
The Trump administration has described the campaign as part of an effort to disrupt Latin American drug cartels and prevent narcotics from reaching the United States. President Donald Trump has characterized the United States as being in an “armed conflict” with the cartels and has defended the strikes as necessary to combat drug trafficking and fatal overdoses.
The strikes have drawn criticism from human rights organizations and United Nations experts, who have questioned their legality and whether the United States has provided sufficient evidence to justify the use of lethal military force against the targeted vessels. Human rights experts have characterized some of the operations as potentially unlawful killings.
The latest operation comes as Washington seeks to expand security cooperation with governments across Latin America. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in August that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow U.S. military operations against criminal groups on their territory, although Guatemala subsequently denied reaching such an agreement. Ecuador has conducted joint operations with the United States since March.
The identities and nationalities of the four people killed in the October 4 strike have not been publicly disclosed. The U.S. military has also not provided details on what drugs, if any, were allegedly being transported aboard the vessel.
