US military kills five in strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in Pacific
The US military for the first time attacked and destroyed two boats on the Pacific side of South America, as part of its ongoing fight against drug trafficking activities.
The strikes – on Tuesday night and starting on Wednesday – killed five people, according to the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. The previous attack hit seven ships in the Caribbean and killed at least 32 people.
The latest attack marked a departure from previous attacks, which took place on the coast of Venezuela, where the US has deployed a regular military presence.
Hegseth released a short video of the overnight strike on Tuesday, showing a small boat, filled with brown packages, that appears to be moving out to sea. Several 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 comparing suspected drug traffickers to the terrorist group that carried out the attacks on us on September 11, 2001.
“Just as Al-Qaida is fighting in our country, these Cartels are fighting on our border with our people,” said Hegseth, adding that “there will be no refuge or justice.
In impressive boats in the Pacific, the administration is expanding its campaign, although the reasons for the increase are not immediately clear. The White House did not respond to a request for comment and Hegseth provided no other information outside of the video on X.
Donald Trump announced what appeared to be the first strike on the boat on September 3, releasing a short video of the attack.
Since then, the Trump administration has been very detailed without disclosing many details about the targeting techniques other than the number of people killed, and the suspicion that the boats are carrying narcotics. This attack has resulted in defeats, both from teams in South and American countries.
On Tuesday the Guardian revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) provides much of the intelligence used to make the planes. Experts say the organization’s central role means much of the evidence used to select targets will remain secret.
The President confirmed last Wednesday that he approved the Covert Cia incident in Venezuela, but not what the agency was doing.
The White House authorities have tried to clarify the growing number of strikes with a popular legal opinion that the boats are accompanied by “unarmed AIDS”, the armed guardian is not armed “, the guardian predicted.
Until this month, authorities referred to Tren de Aragua and other cartels as transnational terrorist organizations, or FTOs. Legal experts have suggested that they only show the drug cartels as the FTO has not given any additional authority to use lethal force.
The White House authorities also sought to clarify the strikes inside and outside by accusing Trump of introducing two powers, which allow the President to use the military in self-defense.
AIDS defense includes Trump’s calling of the Tren de Aragua, the claim of Stephen Miller, the Deputy of Stephen Miller, the Deputy of Stephen Miller, to prevent the deportation of a large number of Venezuelans earlier this year under the Foreign Affairs Act.
The authorities say that Tren de Aragua has entered the regime of the President of Venezuela, so the presence of Cartchel members in the US has become a foreign nation, which allows the deportation of any Venezuelan citizen.
But the administration must provide compelling evidence that Tren de Aragua has become an instrument of the Venezuelan government, and legal experts briefed on the matter say the White House can only clarify.
The strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug lords have been at their highest with Miller and Tony Salisbury, his senior lieutenants at the White Horse HomelaZeland Security Council (HSC), the Guardian previously reported.
Miller empowered the HSC earlier this year to become his second business, a notable departure from the previous administration when it was considered part of the national advisory and eventually reported to the National Security Adviser.
Such was the case, for example, with the second Venezuelan submarine attack with hellfire missiles on September 15. When the White House was informed that the Pentagon had identified the boat as an active target more than four days earlier, many senior White House officials only learned of the upcoming killing hours before it happened.
Reuters contributed to this report
