The United States military has expanded its campaign against drug trafficking, carrying out two new strikes on suspected drug-laden boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing five people, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday.
The latest operations mark the ninth and tenth such strikes launched under President Donald Trump’s administration, which had previously focused on the Caribbean Sea. The twin attacks bring the total death toll to at least 37 since the campaign began last month.
“These cartels are waging war on our border and our people—just as Al Qaeda did on our homeland,” Hegseth said on social media, pledging “no refuge or forgiveness—only justice.” Later, he described the alleged traffickers as “the Al Qaeda of our hemisphere.”
Trump has defended the military actions, claiming the United States is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and citing the same legal grounds used by President George W. Bush in the post-9/11 war on terror.
Asked about potential land strikes, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “We’re totally prepared to do that. We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we come to the land.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the operations, saying, “If people want to stop seeing drug boats blow up, stop sending drugs to the United States.” Trump said the strikes are saving American lives, estimating that “every time you see that happen, you’re saving 25,000 lives.”
Videos posted by Hegseth showed small boats packed with brown packages exploding after being hit, with debris and suspected drug bundles floating on the water.
The strikes come amid an expanded U.S. naval presence in the Caribbean and off Venezuela, where President Nicolás Maduro faces narcoterrorism charges in the U.S. Officials say the eastern Pacific—where cocaine from Colombia and Peru is often shipped via Ecuador—is now the main smuggling corridor.
The U.S. has refrained from prosecuting survivors of the targeted vessels, with two previously detained individuals repatriated to Ecuador and Colombia. Ecuadorian authorities later released one for lack of evidence.
The ongoing strikes have triggered bipartisan concern in Congress. Democrats have questioned their legality under U.S. and international law, while some Republicans have sought clearer justification from the White House.
“Expanding the geography simply expands the lawlessness and recklessness in the use of American military force,” said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. He argued that the proper approach should be to capture and interrogate smugglers rather than “destroy them at sea.”
A Democratic-led effort to limit Trump’s war powers through a Senate resolution was recently defeated along party lines. Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said he trusted Rubio’s legal assessment, adding, “He believes we’re on solid ground in attacking these narcoterrorists.”
Source: AP