U.S. military strike on suspected drug boat in eastern Pacific killed two, Southern Command says

The United States military on Friday struck a boat in the eastern Pacific it suspected of smuggling drugs, killing two people, the U.S. Southern Command said. The command said it was the first known boat strike in the eastern Pacific since the capture of Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.

Southern Command shared a video of the strike and said the attack targeted a boat sailing along "known narco-trafficking routes." It said there had been one survivor and that it had asked the U.S. Coast Guard to start a search-and-rescue mission for that person. The command said the latest attack brought the known death toll in the Trump administration’s campaign that claims to be targeting drug smugglers to 125 since early September.

It was the 36th known strike by the U.S. military since the campaign began in the Caribbean Sea; the last known strike, on Dec. 31, killed five people on two boats, according to Southern Command. A range of legal experts and members of Congress contend that the strikes are illegal extrajudicial killings and, potentially, war crimes.

The heightened military activity in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, including a partial oil blockade on Venezuela, came amid an intensified pressure campaign intended to remove Mr. Maduro from power. The U.S. military seized Mr. Maduro on Jan. 3 and took him to New York to face charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy and other counts; he has pleaded not guilty.

Key Topics

Politics, U.s. Southern Command, Drug Smuggling, Eastern Pacific, Nicolás Maduro, U.s. Coast Guard