As America’s war on drugs continues, its military launched another deadly strike last night on a vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean
Dramatic footage shows another alleged drugs-smuggling boat being blasted out of the ocean by the US military, leaving one man dead.
The moment the latest vessel suspected of transporting illicit substances is taken out was seen on a video posted on social media by US Southern Command, and shows a boat speeding through water before exploding into flames. Southern Command said it “immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors”.
President Donald Trump’s campaign of blowing up supposed drug-trafficking boats in Latin American waters – which included the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea – has gone on since September.
At least 194 people have died in total, with two survivors reported from the latest attack in the eastern Pacific Ocean yesterday. The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs.
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The Pentagon watchdog said last week that it will evaluate whether the US military followed an established targeting framework when carrying out the attacks on alleged drug-smuggling boats.
The six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle include a military commander’s intent, target development, analysis, decision, execution and assessment.
The Pentagon inspector general’s office said the review was “self-initiated.” It will not probe the legality of the strikes, which have drawn intense scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military legal scholars.
The Trump administration says America is at war against the Latin American drug cartels, which it says are responsible for the scourge of fatal drug overdoses plaguing many US communities.
Many critics have called into question the legality of these strikes including one advocacy group who claim that those on board the accused vessels are not afforded any “due process” before being downed with the ships they’re travelling on.
In their analysis, the Washington Office on Latin America said: “Those being killed by US military strikes at sea are denied any due process whatsoever, their lives ended by missile attacks carried out at the orders of President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, or the Southcom commander, with no basis under either US or international law.
“They are asserting and exercising an apparently unlimited license to kill people that the president deems to be terrorists.”
It added: “Some of those aboard the targeted boats may indeed have been transporting illegal drugs (as Trump officials claim, without presenting evidence).
“But involvement in drug smuggling is not a capital offense under US or international law, much less justification for extrajudicial execution.”
The imply that instead, recourses should be used to allow law enforcement board suspicious vessels where they may seize evidence and arrest alleged smugglers who then be fairly put through the justice system.
It said: “Indeed, the US Coast Guard, with occasional Navy support and modest funding, has decades of experience in boarding vessels suspected of transporting illegal drugs or other contraband and detaining their crews for potential prosecution in US federal courts.”
Both the UK and Canada have also expressed concerns about the legality of these strike operations and in November last year, British ministers reportedly paused briefings so as not to be complicit, according to CNN.
President Donald Trump has previously claimed 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.
