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US Southern Command carried out another lethal strike against a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean Sea on October 4. Four individuals were killed in the strike against what the command called "narco-terrorists," according to a statement released by SOUTHCOM.
The command said Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere "executed a lethal, kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean," adding that "confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel's active involvement in narco-trafficking."
The short video from SOUTHCOM shows a projectile hitting a moving target and then the target going up in flames. SOUTHCOM did not release the location of the target, the flag of the target, the cargo of the target, or the weapon used against the target. Also, the intelligence used for the strike has not been made public.
This is the latest of a series of military strikes against maritime targets which the Trump administration launched in September 2025 to interdict narcotics trafficked into the United States by boat. It is the 71st such operation to have been publicly reported, with over 220 lives reportedly lost in the strikes to date.
The administration has framed the new campaign as a long-overdue attempt to go after the cartels that are fueling America's drug crisis. That makes the effort an "America First" effort to treat narco-trafficking as the national security threat that it is, rather than a law enforcement afterthought.
Human rights groups and the United Nations have decried the strikes as extrajudicial killings, carried out without due process. But the administration sees the targets before them as legitimate military targets - vessels operating in established smuggling corridors, carrying contraband bound for American streets.
