On Wednesday, the US military again struck a drug trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific, killing three people, the US Southern Command reported.
„On the orders of the commander of the US Southern Command, the joint task force „Southern Spear“ carried out a fatal strike on the vessel on April 15“, said a statement published in X.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel traveled known drug smuggling routes in the Eastern Pacific and was used for drug trafficking.“
The US armed forces are conducting a large-scale military campaign, known as Operation “Southern Spear“, aimed at maritime drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean.
Since the start of the operation in September 2025, more than 51 air and sea strikes have been carried out, killing at least 174 people, defined by the US command as “narco-terrorists“.
In mid-April this year alone, four fatal strikes were recorded within five days. The latest attack on April 14 in the Pacific Ocean killed four people.
The operations are being led by the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) under the command of General Francis L. Donovan.
The Trump administration has justified the strikes by classifying the drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations“ and claiming that the US is in “armed conflict“ with them.
Unmanned aerial vehicles and precision weapons are being used to deliver “kinetic strikes” by boats (“go-fast“ and semi-submersibles) along known trafficking routes.
US lawmakers and international organizations have criticized the Pentagon for refusing to release video footage of all the strikes and for the lack of concrete evidence that all those killed were actually traffickers.
Legal experts and human rights groups have described the actions as “extrajudicial executions“ in international waters, saying that civilians cannot be fatally targeted without posing an imminent threat.
Critics point out that most fentanyl enters the US through the land border with Mexico, not by sea, which calls into question the basic rationale for the campaign.