At least eight people have been killed in a U.S. military strike on three alleged drug trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean Monday.
The attack was ordered by Pete Hegseth, according to the US Southern Command, and brings the total number of people killed in similar military actions in recent weeks to 95.
“On 15 December at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on three vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters,” the US Southern Command wrote in a statement on X.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking.”
It marks a further escalation in hostilities in the region after the seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker by U.S. forces last week, which was reportedly targeted due to carrying sanctioned fuel in international waters.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is facing increasing demands for transparency and accountability with U.S. Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer branding the actions “rogue and reckless” on Monday.
An all-Senators briefing is to be held on Tuesday involving Hegseth and U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio.
“Following my repeated demands, there will be an all-Senators briefing tomorrow with Secretaries Hegseth and Rubio on this Administration’s rogue and reckless actions in the Caribbean,” Schumer wrote in a statement on X/Twitter on Monday.
“This briefing comes after weeks of pressure from myself and other Senate Democrats to ensure all senators hear from this Administration, who seem to be afraid to provide even the most basic answers. The American people deserve oversight. We intend to deliver it.”
United Nations and legal experts have warned the strikes could amount to “extrajudicial killings”, with Hegseth facing accusations of “war crimes” by colleagues. The White House insists the actions are aimed at “narco-terrorists” in order to prevent drug smuggling.
Trump is accused of barely concealing his intentions to topple the government of socialist president Nicolas Maduro, reportedly offering him an ultimatum to step down with immediate effect in exchange for safe passage out of the country.
Maduro has accused the U.S. of “fabricating” a war in order to exploit the country’s oil resources.
Thousands of American troops and a carrier strike group have moved into the Caribbean amid the tensions.
On Monday, Trump designated fentanyl – a strong opioid painkiller widely used across the health sector – as a “weapon of mass destruction”.
“There’s no doubt that America’s adversaries are trafficking fentanyl into the United States in part because they want to kill Americans. If this were a war, that would be one of the worst wars,” Trump said as he signed an executive order designating the substance a “chemical weapon”.
“They’ve destroyed a lot of families, because when they lose a child, or even if their child is heavily addicted, you lose that family, the family will never be the same.”
The move could widen the scope of the Trump administration’s military powers in the region, with the presidential directive tasking the Secretary of Defense and Attorney General with determining whether the Pentagon should provide military resources for combatting fentanyl trafficking.
