The United States military said on Tuesday that it had killed five people in a strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific. The attack continues a campaign that legal scholars and rights groups have condemned as extrajudicial killings.
US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, announced the strike. In a social media post, it said Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere had carried out the attack on October 27 against a go-fast vessel operating on known narco-trafficking routes. The command said “confirmed intelligence” showed the boat was actively involved in drug trafficking.
Strike tally rises across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific
According to a tracker from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a US-based research group that promotes human rights and democracy, the Trump administration has killed at least 238 people in 68 reported strikes since the campaign began in September 2025. Tuesday’s strike appears to raise the reported total to 243.
SOUTHCOM has often released videos that purportedly show vessels being struck. Its announcements, however, rarely include details that would substantiate claims that those targeted were involved in drug trafficking.
Questions over evidence and the legal basis for strikes
Relatives of some of those killed have said they were fishermen or workers who had no link to the drug trade. The administration has designated numerous criminal groups in Latin America as foreign terrorist organisations, a framing that legal experts reject. They argue that drug trafficking is a criminal activity and that military strikes against it are not permitted.
Adam Isacson, a WOLA analyst who has tracked the strikes, responded to the announcement on social media. “This is the 6th lethal boat strike in the past 4 months,” he said. He added that the pace was slower than before, but that the administration and its commanders continued to carry out killings every few weeks, with no discernible impact on the drug trade.
