SOUTHCOM released no evidence the vessel carried drugs
U.S. Southern Command said Saturday that Joint Force Western Hemisphere “executed a lethal, kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes” in the Caribbean, killing four people the command described as “narco-terrorists.”
SOUTHCOM did not disclose the location of the strike. In its written statement, the command said “confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking,” but did not release evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs.
Video footage released by SOUTHCOM showed what appeared to be a moving boat followed by a flash.
The Saturday strike brings the campaign’s reported toll to at least 231 people, according to SOUTHCOM. The command counted the operation as the 69th strike on alleged “narco-terrorists” over the past year.
The campaign is conducted under a policy framework in which the Trump administration has designated several gangs as terrorist organizations. The designated organizations include Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel, and the Mexican cartel known as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.