U.S. forces on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, conducted a strike in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people, according to U.S. Southern Command. (U.S. Southern Command)
U.S. forces on Wednesday conducted a strike in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people, according to U.S. Southern Command.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” SOUTHCOM said in a post on X.
SOUTHCOM did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. It posted a 15-second video that showed a small boat being blown up as it moved on the water.
No U.S. forces were harmed in the operation.
The latest operation comes less than a week after a strike in the Eastern Pacific Ocean that left two dead and one survivor recovered by the Coast Guard.
The U.S. Coast Guard coordinated with Maritime Rescue Coordination Center Costa Rica, and Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf was diverted from its patrol to survey the site of the attack, the Coast Guard said in a statement Friday. The Bertholf recovered two dead and one survivor, who were all transferred to the Costa Rican Coast Guard.
The death toll from the campaign against alleged traffickers has risen to at least 163 people since the strikes began in early September.
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.”
At the time of the summit, U.S. officials released video of an operation in Ecuador targeting a drug trafficker’s training camp. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X at the time that the U.S. is “bombing Narco Terrorists on land as well.” The New York Times on Tuesday reported the military strike appears to have destroyed a dairy farm.
