Four people were killed in a U.S. military strike on a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post to X.
This is the latest in a series of military strikes on vessels that the Trump administration has characterized as a part of narco-trafficking operations by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO).
“This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said in his post.
No U.S. forces were injured in the latest strike, he continued.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email Wednesday night for more information about the latest strike.
Why It Matters
Wednesday’s strike is the ninth kinetic military attack on a boat that Hegseth has posted about in the last month, resulting in the deaths of at least 38 people aboard the vessels.
The administration has been accused of trying to start a new war and abusing military power by foreign and domestic leaders.
What To Know
The Department of Defense (DOD) has employed its new counternarcotics task force in carrying out vessel strikes on boats it says are associated with drug trafficking. The task force is aimed at stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S. by targeting ships believed to be carrying narcotics and DTO members.
Since October 10, the U.S. has launched at least nine such strikes, killing dozens of people who have been identified as either Venezuelan or Colombian nationals.
Hegseth did not identify the nationalities of the four men killed in Wednesday’s operation.
The targeting of these vessels in the Pacific and Caribbean has sparked criticism from international leaders, including Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Venezuela’s Maduro accused the Trump administration of “inventing a new eternal war” with the strikes, while Petro called the strike on Colombian nationals “murder,” saying the slain boaters were fishermen.
U.S. President Donald Trump has also posted about the attacks, emphasizing that his administration is targeting the trafficking of narcotics onto American soil.
What People Are Saying
Hegseth, in a post to X Wednesday: “The Western Hemisphere is no longer a safe haven for narco-terrorists bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans. The Department of War will continue to hunt them down and eliminate them wherever they operate.”
Maduro, at a news briefing last week: “The people of the United States know it, they are inventing a new eternal war. They promised they would never get involved in another war, and now they are inventing a war that we are going to prevent. How? By mobilizing the peoples of South America.”
What Happens Next
The identities of the four people killed in Wednesday’s attack remain unknown. Tensions are mounting between the United States, Venezuela and Colombia as U.S. strikes on vessels continue.
