US strike on boat in Caribbean

The US military conducted a deadly strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean Sea, killing three people. The operation is part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign against drug cartels, which has resulted in 133 deaths through 38 attacks since September in Caribbean and eastern Pacific waters.US Southern Command shared details of the latest strike on social media, including video footage showing a boat exploding in flames. The military claimed the vessel was following known drug trafficking routes and was involved in illegal operations.Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a bold claim on social media, stating that “some top cartel drug-traffickers” in the region “have decided to cease all narcotics operations INDEFINITELY due to recent (highly effective) kinetic strikes in the Caribbean.” However, no evidence was provided to support this statement.US President Donald Trump has framed these operations as an “armed conflict” with Latin American cartels, arguing that such aggressive measures are essential to combat drug trafficking. Yet his administration has provided limited proof to support their claims of targeting and eliminating “narcoterrorists.”The ongoing military campaign represents a significant escalation in the US approachclaiming to combating drug trafficking in the region. This comes just days after US military has released footage of a recent strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific, stating that the boat was operating along what it described as “known narco-trafficking routes.” According to the officials, the strike resulted in the deaths of two individuals identified as “narco-terrorists,” while one person survived the incident.