Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced yet another deadly strike on a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, coming the same day an aircraft carrier began heading to the region in a new expansion of military firepower, the AP reports. The attack Tuesday killed two people aboard the vessel, Hegseth said, bringing the death toll from the Trump administration's campaign in South American waters up to at least 66 people in at least 16 strikes. President Trump has justified the strikes by saying the United States is in "armed conflict" with drug cartels and claiming the boats are operated by foreign terror organizations. The administration has not provided evidence or more details.
"We will find and terminate EVERY vessel with the intention of trafficking drugs to America to poison our citizens," Hegseth posted while on a trip to Asia. Lawmakers from both parties have pressed the Trump administration for more information on who is being targeted and the legal justification for the strikes given that Congress has not authorized military action. United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk last week called for the US to halt the attacks and "prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats."
The latest strike comes as the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier has left the Mediterranean Sea on its way to the Caribbean after Hegseth ordered it to the region more than a week ago. It will join an already robust buildup of American planes, ships and thousands of troops in Latin America. A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ship movements, confirmed that the Ford and the destroyer USS Bainbridge crossed through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic on Tuesday.
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