WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced another deadly strike on a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The attack occurred on Tuesday, the same day an aircraft carrier began heading to the region in a new expansion of U.S. military firepower.
The strike killed two people aboard the vessel, Hegseth said, bringing the death toll from the Trump administration’s campaign in South American waters to at least 66 people across at least 16 strikes.
President Donald Trump has justified these strikes by insisting that the United States is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has claimed that the boats targeted are operated by foreign terror organizations. However, the administration has not provided evidence or more details to support these claims.
“We will find and terminate EVERY vessel with the intention of trafficking drugs to America to poison our citizens,” Hegseth stated.
Lawmakers from both parties have pressed the administration for more information on who is being targeted and the legal justification for the strikes.
The latest attack comes as the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier has left the Mediterranean Sea, en route to the Caribbean. The deployment was ordered more than a week ago by Hegseth and is part of a robust buildup of American planes, ships, and thousands of troops in Latin America.
A defense official, speaking 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.
The USS Gerald R. Ford originally deployed with five destroyers, though it remains unclear if all will proceed to the Caribbean. Two other destroyers in the Ford’s strike group—the USS Winston Churchill and the USS Mahan—are currently in the Mediterranean, with the Mahan docked at Rota, Spain. The USS Forrest Sherman and the USS Mitchener are in the Red Sea, the official added.
In the latest strike, a video posted to social media by Hegseth showed a gray box obscuring a boat appearing in the water before it is blown up. The footage then cuts to the vessel engulfed in flames.
© Associated Press
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