U.S. forces on Thursday conducted their first strike on an alleged drug boat in nearly two weeks. Three people initially survived the strike in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Southern Command)
U.S. forces on Thursday conducted a strike in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, the first in nearly two weeks, leaving two dead and one survivor recovered by the Coast Guard.
“Intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” U.S. Southern Command announced. “Following the engagement, USSOUTHCOM immediately notified [the] U.S. Coast Guard to activate the search and rescue system for the survivors.”
All three people aboard the boat initially survived the strike, SOUTHCOM said.
The U.S. Coast Guard coordinated with Maritime Rescue Coordination Center Costa Rica and Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf was diverted from its patrol to comb the site of the attack, the Coast Guard said in a statement. The Bertholf recovered two deceased people and one survivor, who were all transferred to the Costa Rican Coast Guard.
The operation is only the second known instance of suspected drug traffickers surviving an attack and being transferred. An October strike in the Atlantic Ocean left two survivors and two people killed. The survivors were repatriated to Colombia and Ecuador without facing charges in the United States.
The death toll from the Trump administration’s campaign against alleged traffickers is at least 157 people.
President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”
The U.S. resumed strikes in late January after largely backing off in the region following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3.
Trump said at a regional summit in Doral, Fla., this month that the U.S. and Latin American countries are collaborating to combat cartels and encouraged the use of military force.
“The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our militaries,” Trump said at the “Shield of the Americas” summit. “We have to use our military. You have to use your military.”
