Boat Strike

Small boat destroyed in video posted on social media as US campaign has killed at least 178 people since SeptemberThe US military announced on Friday that it killed two people in an attack on a boat in the eastern Pacific, part of a series of deadly strikes on vessels in recent months which it claims are targeting “narco-trafficking” operations.The US Southern Command declared in a social media post on X that Gen Francis L Donovan directed Joint Task Force Southern Spear, the counter-narcotics unit that operates in the region, to carry out a lethal strike. The US military posted a video, which it labeled unclassified, showing a small boat being destroyed in an explosion. Continue reading...

An Ecuadorian fishing crew describe their ordeal as victims of Trump’s purported war on ‘narcoterrorists’By 4pm, the light was softening over the Pacific, and the crew of the Don Maca were finishing a long day hauling in lines of swordfish and albacore. Down in the hold, the mood had settled into the familiar rhythm of a fishing day drawing to a close.“We were just working, waiting for the last trawler to return,” Jhonny Sebastián Palacios, one of the fishers, told the Guardian. “Everything was perfectly fine.” Continue reading...

Wednesday’s strike brings the total of those killed in US military strikes on alleged drug boats to at least 177Three people were killed in a US strike on another alleged drug-trafficking boat, the fifth such deadly attack in as many days, military officials have announced.US southern command said it conducted “a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations” in the eastern Pacific, without naming the alleged group, in an X post. Continue reading...

Strike marks third deadly attack on vessels in region in four days, and the killing of 174 people since SeptemberSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe US military said it killed four more people in a boat strike in the eastern Pacific ocean on Tuesday, marking the third deadly attack on vessels in the region in four days.The US Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, announced the killings in a social media post, claiming, without providing evidence, that the men killed were “narco-terrorists”. Continue reading...

Dispatch of vessel strike, like most of military’s statements on strikes conducted in area, did not provide evidenceThe US military said it killed two people in a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, claiming the targets were involved in “narco-trafficking operations”.The announcement, like most of the military’s statements on the dozens of strikes it has conducted in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea, did not provide evidence to support its claims that the targets were engaged in narco-trafficking. Continue reading...

Attacks on Saturday bring number of people killed in boat strikes by US military to at least 168The US military said that it blew up two boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing a total of five people and leaving one survivor, as the Trump administration pursues its campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America while preparing a naval blockade of Iranian ports.The attacks on Saturday bring the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the US military to at least 168 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September. Continue reading...