The U.S. military campaign against vessels crewed by civilians allegedly involved in drug trafficking continued Tuesday with two new extrajudicial attacks, bringing the number of known operations since September to nine. The novelty this time is that the latest strike took place off the Colombian coast, in the Pacific Ocean, and not, as in previous cases, in the Caribbean Sea. The attacks, in which five people died, come amid a confrontation between Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro over Washington’s military operation in the region.
“These strikes will continue, day after day. These are not simply drug runners — these are narco-terrorists bringing death and destruction to our cities. These DTOs (Designated Terrorist Organizations) are the ‘Al Qaeda’ of our hemisphere and will not escape justice. We will find them and kill them, until the threat to the American people is extinguished,“ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a message accompanying the second announcement late Wednesday. The attack took place in the ”Eastern Pacific“ on a ”known narco-trafficking route.”
The news was reported Wednesday by CBS, citing two anonymous official sources. Confirmation came shortly thereafter from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said that the U.S. military had killed two people on this occasion, bringing the death toll from the eight extrajudicial operations to at least 34 civilians.
Hegseth described the crew of the boat destroyed earlier in the day as “narco-terrorists” in a post on X, in which, as has been customary for almost two months, he reproduced a video of the moment when the vessel was blown up. “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,” he added, without offering further details about the identity of those on board the boat or evidence about the cargo they were carrying. He also said that the order had been given by U.S. President Donald Trump.
At noon (Eastern Time), CBS broke the news of the first operation, citing two anonymous official sources. Confirmation came shortly thereafter from Hegseth himself. The death toll from the nine extrajudicial operations is now at least 37 civilians.
The target of the first operation was a vessel that U.S. authorities linked to the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Colombian guerrilla group that the U.S. has considered a terrorist organization since the 1990s.
That attack also marked a turning point. It was the first time that the U.S. authorities acknowledged that a strike had taken place “off the coast of Colombia.” On previous occasions, Hegseth and Trump had highlighted the operation’s proximity to the Venezuelan Caribbean coast. According to official figures, only 10% of the drugs that reach the U.S. coast do so via the Caribbean. The most common route is via the Pacific, with three main points of origin: Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador.
The Secretary of Defense also stated that the operation, whose target was Colombian and not, as in previous instances, Venezuelan, took place in international waters and within the area of responsibility of the U.S. Southern Command, which includes the Caribbean Sea. In recent weeks, there has been an unprecedented deployment in the area, including warships, a nuclear submarine, and some 10,000 troops.
“They’re doing very poorly, Colombia”
Hegseth’s words must be placed in the context of the conflict between Trump and Petro, whom the Republican has accused of being an “illegal drug leader” after Petro said that Washington had violated his country’s sovereignty in two of the nine attacks on vessels that might have been Colombian. The White House said it would cut off all aid to Colombia and threatened punitive tariffs on Bogotá, which have not yet materialized.
On Wednesday, the clash between the two leaders escalated: Trump called Petro a “thug” and “a bad guy” at a press conference in Washington. “They’re doing very poorly, Colombia. They make cocaine. They have cocaine factories… and he better watch it or we’ll take very serious action against him and his country.”
“Armed attacks”
The Trump administration considers that the United States is in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels. Arguing that the narcotics trafficked by these criminal organizations kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, Washington classifies these alleged drug movements as “armed attacks.”
Senators from both parties oppose Trump’s declaration of war against these criminal organizations and his invocation of a 1970s law that gives him the authority to conduct these operations — which are set to end in early November and can be extended for an additional 30 days — for a period of 60 days without congressional approval.
Over the weekend, the U.S. president also confirmed the sixth extrajudicial operation in a campaign that began in early September. On that occasion, the target was a shallow-diving submersible vessel. The military killed two civilians, while two others, a Colombian and an Ecuadorian, survived.
Both were repatriated to their home countries, and the latter is now free, as the Ecuadorian Public Prosecutor’s Office found no evidence to charge him with any crime.
U.S. authorities have not yet provided any evidence about the crew members of these vessels or the cargo they were carrying. The death penalty is legal in much of the United States, although it is never applied for drug trafficking, and a trial must always be held first.
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