WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said it carried out another strike Monday on a boat accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. The latest killing came as the campaign of attacks on vessels that the Trump administration says are trafficking drugs in Latin American waters has persisted for more than seven months, with the military continuing the operation even while it has been preoccupied for more than six weeks with the Iran war.
Who Pays for the “War”
The people on the boats are the ones paying the price. With the latest attack Monday, at least 170 people have been killed in the boat strikes since the effort began in early September, months ahead of the U.S. raid in January that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty.
The U.S. Southern Command repeated previous statements by saying it had targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. But the military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. Instead, it posted a video on X showing a small boat floating in the water before a huge blast hits it and smoke is seen pouring from the vessel.
What the Command Says
It was the second day in a row that U.S. Southern Command announced a strike on social media. The command said Sunday that it blew up two boats in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing a total of five people and leaving one survivor. It was not immediately clear what happened to that person.
The pattern is plain enough: announcements on social media, explosions at sea, and a body count that keeps climbing while the military offers claims instead of evidence. The command says it is targeting alleged traffickers, but the base article says it did not provide proof that the latest vessel was carrying drugs.
The State’s Story, and Its Limits
President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in "armed conflict" with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing "narcoterrorists."
That gap matters. The apparatus of force is making life-and-death decisions in Latin American waters, and the public is asked to accept the label attached to the dead. The article does not provide evidence that the latest boat was ferrying drugs, only that the military said it was accused of trafficking drugs and that the command said it targeted alleged traffickers along known smuggling routes.
Trump on Monday appeared to reference the tactic of boat strikes in Latin America while issuing new threats against Tehran as a blockade of Iranian ports took effect. "Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The language is blunt, and so is the machinery behind it: a military campaign that has already killed at least 170 people, a command posting blast videos online, and a White House that frames the violence as necessary while offering little evidence for its claims. The people in the boats do not get hearings in the public relations campaign. They get the explosion first.