US hits eighth drug boat in deadly strike — first attack on Pacific side kills crew | US | News
President Donald Trump reportedly ordered the eighth known strike on an alleged drug vessel in Latin American waters Tuesday evening, killing two individuals.
The hit reportedly occurred Tuesday evening on the Pacific side of South America, two U.S. officials told CBS News. At least 34 people have been killed in the U.S. strikes on alleged drug trafficking ships beginning in September. Every other strike occurred in the Caribbean. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed on the attack via X Wednesday.
“Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific,” Hegseth wrote. “The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route, and carrying narcotics.
“There were two narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. Both terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike,” he continued. “Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere. Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness—only justice.”
The Trump administration declared to Congress that the U.S. is dealing with a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters after the seventh strike that he doesn’t care what happens to the two alleged narcoterrorists who were repatriated, as he is most concerned that the drugs don’t end up in the hands of Americans.
When asked why the two surviving men are being returned to their countries rather than prosecuted in the U.S., Vance said, “What happens to them? I don’t really care, so long as they’re not bringing poison into our country.”
His comments come as the U.S. battles an ongoing mental health and drug crisis, as thousands die annually from what health officials have dubbed “deaths of despair.”
