The latest two boats were traveling in the Eastern Pacific along “known narco-trafficking routes,” U.S. Southern Command announced in a post on X. The military said the boats were operated by designated terrorist organizations. It did not name the vessels’ alleged operators, but the Trump administration has labeled several Latin American drug cartels as terrorist groups.
Some five “male narco-terrorists” were killed in the two strikes — three in one boat and two in the other. A total of 104 people have been killed since the boat strikes began on Sept. 2.
President Trump has cast the strikes as part of a needed crackdown on narcotics trafficking. His administration has legally justified the campaign by arguing the U.S. is engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.
But the strikes are increasingly controversial, with Democrats and some Republicans arguing the military doesn’t have legal authority to carry out the strikes, and hasn’t provided enough evidence that the boats were carrying drugs bound for the United States. Democrats in both chambers of Congress have introduced resolutions seeking to curtail the strikes, but they have been voted down, most recently by House Republicans on Wednesday.
And in recent weeks, the initial boat attack in early September has drawn renewed attention due to reports that the military carried out a follow-on strike to kill two survivors.
