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Agencies

The United States has announced strikes on two alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Pacific Ocean that left five people dead, expanding the Trump administration’s campaign against drug trafficking in South America.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the two strikes on boats in the Pacific - one on Wednesday and another the day before - in social media posts showing the vessels being engulfed in flames.
“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,” Hegseth wrote on X.
Later Wednesday, he referred to the alleged drug-runners as “the ‘Al Qaeda’ of our hemisphere”.

Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out yet another lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO). Yet again, the now-deceased terrorists were engaged in narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.
The… pic.twitter.com/PEaKmakivD
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 23, 2025

The strikes, which Hegseth said were carried out in international waters, brought the total number of such US attacks to at least nine, with 37 people dead, according to US figures.
Until now, the strikes had only taken place in the Caribbean.
US President Donald Trump has pushed more aggressive military action against Latin American drug cartels, declaring the US was engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug-traffickers.
In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said he had the legal authority to carry out strikes because of the deaths caused by drug overdoses, but added that he would go back to Congress if he decided to target shipments on land.
“They killed 300,000 Americans last year - and that gives you legal authority,” Trump told reporters.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed that justification in his own remarks at the White House.

“These are drug boats,” Rubio said. “If people want to stop seeing drug boats blow up, stop sending drugs to the United States.”
The lethal nature of the strikes has some critics accusing the US government of conducting extrajudicial killings - rather than the standard approach of stopping the boats, confiscating drugs, and arresting those on board.
In the first brief video that Hegseth posted on Wednesday, a small boat, half-filled with brown packages, is seen moving along the water. Several seconds into the video, the boat explodes and is seen floating motionless on the water in flames.
The second video shows another boat moving quickly before being struck by an explosion. Video apparently recorded after the explosion shows packages floating in the water.
Previous strikes had been largely limited to an area off the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, whose government the US administration has accused of fuelling the drug trade. The US military has built up an unusually large force in the Caribbean Sea since this summer, raising speculation that Trump intended to target Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who faces narcoterrorism charges.
The latest action suggested “this is not just about regime change in Venezuela but is essentially a push back against drug flows more broadly, now including the Pacific,” said Evan Ellis, a professor at the Army War College specialising in Latin America.

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.
The vessel was known by our intelligence to be… pic.twitter.com/BayDhUZ4Ac
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 22, 2025

The White House has also ratcheted up pressure on Colombia and President Gustavo Petro, with Trump denouncing him as an “illegal drug leader” and cutting off all aid. Trump has also threatened to impose fresh tariffs on the country.
Trump and Petro traded angry threats on Wednesday, with the US president branding the Colombian leader a “thug” and suggested he was a drug trafficker leading his country to ruin, prompting the leftist leader to vow: “I will defend myself legally with American lawyers”.
Trump warned Petro “better watch it or we’ll take very serious action against him and his country”.
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement the US must halt the attacks.
Petro has sharply criticised the US operation in the Caribbean, saying most drug trafficking to North America took place in the Pacific Ocean, with only about 3 per cent originating from Venezuela.
The strike in the Pacific suggests the US now considers it important to be imposing pressure on major source countries for narcotics - such as Colombia - rather than just countries used to transit the drugs, including Venezuela.

“Every one of those boats that gets knocked out is saving 25,000 American lives, not to mention the torn-up families all over the country,” Trump said.
While the bulk of American overdose deaths were from fentanyl, the drug is transported by land from Mexico. Venezuela is a major drug transit zone, but the eastern Pacific Ocean, not the Caribbean, is the primary area for smuggling cocaine.
Colombia and Peru, countries with coastlines on the eastern Pacific, are the world’s top cocaine producers. Wedged between them is Ecuador, whose world-class ports and myriad maritime shipping containers filled with bananas have become the perfect vehicle for drug traffickers to move their product.
Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa, who has declared war on gangs in his country, has expressed support for Trump’s anti-narcotics efforts.
Associated Press, Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse and Reuters


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Americas and the Caribbean

US widens campaign on suspected drug boats with first lethal strikes in Pacific Ocean

This screen grab from a video posted by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth shows what Hegseth says is a vessel moments before it is hit in a US strike. Photo: US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth via X

A US MQ-9 Reaper drone prepares for take-off from Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro have exchanged heated words over the US strikes in the region. Photo: AFP

Air strikes and insults: Trump’s feud with Colombia threatens decades-long alliance

US Air Force personnel load missiles onto a MQ-9 Reaper drone at Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Photo: Reuters

Colombian President Gustavo Petro meeting with US charge d’affaires John McNamara at the presidential palace. Photo: Colombian Presidency via Reuters

An unmanned semi-submersible between two Colombian Navy boats on July 2, 2025. Photo: Colombian Navy via AFP

US Marines come ashore from a landing craft during training exercises in Puerto Rico. Photo: Reuters

Trump threatens Colombia with tariffs and slashes aid, calls Petro a ‘drug leader’

US President Donald Trump referred to Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro as ‘an illegal drug leader’ who is ‘low rated and very unpopular’. Photo: AFP

Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Photo: EPA

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One. Photo: AP

US strike in Caribbean kills Colombian fisherman, stoking sovereignty row

Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks during a public event in Bogota on Friday. Photo: EPA

A video released by the US Department of Defence shows a precision strike destroying an alleged narcotics vessel in international waters on September 2. Photo: Department of Defence/TNS

US military seizes survivors of strike on alleged drug vessel in Caribbean

US military footage shows a precision strike destroying a high-speed vessel in international waters in September. Photo: US Department of Defence via TNS

Screenshots of footage posted in September depict what US President Donald Trump said was a US strike on a Venezuelan drug cartel vessel. Images: White House via Reuters

US admiral overseeing strikes on boats off Venezuela to step down in surprise move

US Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey hosts a defence conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in August. Photo: Reuters

US forces have carried out strikes against at least five alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean that have left 27 people dead. Photos: White House via Reuters

News

World

United States & Canada

Americas

Two new strikes, apparently carried out in international waters, come amid a war of words between Donald Trump and Colombia’s president


Two new strikes, apparently carried out in international waters, come amid a war of words between Donald Trump and Colombia’s president.
