WASHINGTON (AP) — Two more people were killed Monday when the U.S. military struck a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, bringing the death toll from a seven-month campaign of attacks on vessels to at least 170 people, even as the military has provided no evidence that those killed were involved in drug trafficking.
The strike was the second announced in as many days by U.S. Southern Command on social media. On Sunday, the command said it had destroyed two boats in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing five people and leaving one survivor. It was not immediately clear what happened to that person.
A Campaign Without Evidence
The boat strikes began in early September, months before a U.S. raid in January captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty. U.S. Southern Command has repeatedly stated it targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes, but the military has not provided evidence that the vessels were ferrying drugs.
The military posted a video on X showing a small boat floating in the water before a huge blast hits it and smoke pours from the vessel. The seven-month campaign has continued even as the military has been preoccupied for more than six weeks with the Iran war.
Presidential Justification and Threats
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 into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing "narcoterrorists."
On Monday, Trump appeared to reference the tactic of boat strikes in Latin America while issuing new threats against Tehran as a blockade of Iranian ports took effect. "Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Accountability and Transparency Concerns
The ongoing strikes raise serious questions about due process, evidence standards, and civilian casualties in military operations conducted far from traditional war zones. With at least 170 people killed since early September, the campaign represents a significant use of lethal force based on allegations the administration has not publicly substantiated. The fate of survivors, such as the one person who survived Saturday's strike, remains unclear, leaving families and human rights observers without information about those caught in the operations.
The strikes have persisted through major military commitments elsewhere, suggesting a sustained policy priority even as resources are stretched. The lack of transparency about the evidence used to justify each strike, the identities of those killed, and the procedures for distinguishing drug traffickers from other boat occupants creates a vacuum of accountability that undermines democratic oversight of military action.
Why This Matters:
The death of 170 people in military strikes conducted without public evidence of wrongdoing raises fundamental questions about accountability, rule of law, and the protection of human rights in U.S. military operations. When lethal force is used based on unsubstantiated allegations, it erodes the standards of due process and transparency that democratic institutions require. The administration's failure to provide evidence that those killed were "narcoterrorists" leaves open the possibility that civilians, fishermen, or migrants have been among the casualties. The expansion of this tactic to potential use against Iranian vessels, as Trump threatened Monday, suggests a broader normalization of strikes without judicial process or independent verification. For communities in Latin America and families of the dead, the lack of information and accountability compounds the human tragedy with institutional failure.