Three people were killed Sunday in a US airstrike on a suspected drug trafficking ship in the Caribbean, the US military said, bringing the death toll in the campaign in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea to at least 180.
Military operations have been underway since September 2025 and, according to US authorities, are part of a "war" against drug cartels operating from Latin America towards the US market. Some of these groups have been designated as "terrorist" organizations, while the term "narco-terrorists" is often used for their members.
According to the US Joint Command for the Latin America region (SOUTHCOM), the latest attack was “deadly” and targeted a vessel suspected of being involved in drug trafficking activities. US authorities said that intelligence services had confirmed that the vessel was moving on known drug trafficking routes in the Caribbean.
"Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this operation," the statement said, accompanied by a declassified video showing the moment the ship was destroyed.
However, the Trump administration has not presented convincing evidence that the ships hit were actually involved in illegal activities. The legality of these attacks, carried out in international waters or foreign territorial waters, has been questioned by experts and UN officials, who have described some of them as extrajudicial killings.
During April alone, the US military has announced at least six airstrikes as part of this campaign.
The operations continue to spark international debate about the legal limits of military interventions and their consequences in the region.
