U.S. Kills 11 More in Drug Boat Strikes — Total Now 145

• U.S. Southern Command struck three boats in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean on Monday night, killing 11 people described as “narco-terrorists” — bringing the total death toll from Operation Southern Spear to at least 145 since September
• The strikes are part of a sustained military campaign that has destroyed at least 42 vessels, with the administration asserting the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with designated terrorist organizations — a legal framing that allows lethal force without prior threat
• No evidence linking individual targets to drug trafficking has been made public, and governments and families of those killed have said many victims were civilians, primarily fishermen

The videos follow a pattern by now. A small boat — sometimes moving, sometimes stationary on open water — erupts in flames after an explosion. U.S. Southern Command posts the footage on X with a statement identifying the dead as “male narco-terrorists” operating vessels for “Designated Terrorist Organizations.” No names are given. No evidence is shown. On Monday night, this happened three times: twice in the Eastern Pacific, once in the Caribbean. Eleven men died.

It was the 42nd publicly acknowledged strike under Operation Southern Spear, the Trump administration’s military campaign against suspected drug trafficking in Latin American waters. Since the first attack on September 2, 2025, at least 145 people have been killed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has claimed some cartel leaders have ceased narcotics operations entirely due to the strikes, though he provided no evidence for this either.

A war without a battlefield

The legal architecture of the campaign rests on President Trump’s formal notification to Congress in October 2025 that the United States is in a “non-international armed conflict” with cartel-linked groups — a designation that, under the laws of armed conflict, permits killing enemy fighters even when they pose no immediate threat. Ten organizations have been designated as terrorist groups, including Venezuela‘s Tren de Aragua and Colombia’s ELN. International law experts and human rights groups have challenged this framing, arguing the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings of people who may be civilians.

The campaign has unfolded alongside — and at times in contradiction with — other U.S. moves in the region. The same administration that is striking boats in the Caribbean engineered the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January and is now working with his successor on oil deals and reconstruction. Colombia’s government has been negotiating peace with groups the U.S. labels terrorists while simultaneously promising Trump to hunt their leaders. The names and identities of the dead remain largely unknown. The Guardian reported in November that families and governments say many were fishermen. The Pentagon says its intelligence consistently confirms they were narco-terrorists. The boats keep burning. This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of global affairs and Latin American financial news.

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