The **U.S. military says it has carried out another deadly strike on a vessel it alleges was involved in drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea, resulting in the deaths of three people, according to official statements from U.S. Southern Command.

In a social media post, Southern Command said the boat “was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” A video linked in the message showed a small vessel moving through the water before being hit and erupting in flames.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has framed the campaign of strikes as part of broader efforts to disrupt drug trafficking networks. Earlier announcements from U.S. military officials described related operations as necessary to curb the flow of narcotics toward the United States, with no U.S. forces reported harmed in the incident.

This latest attack raises the recorded death toll from the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats in both the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean to at least 133 people in dozens of separate actions since September 2025.

Questions and Context
While U.S. officials describe the actions as part of a campaign against what they term “narco-trafficking operations,” critics — including legal experts and international observers — have raised concerns about the legal basis for military strikes on civilian-manned vessels in international waters and the lack of publicly available evidence linking specific boats to criminal or terrorist networks.

President Donald Trump has characterized the situation as an “armed conflict” with drug cartels in the region and has defended the strategy, but the U.S. administration has provided limited independent verification of its claims about the nature of the targets.

The operation continues amid complex geopolitical tensions in the Caribbean and adjacent waters, where anti-narcotics missions intersect with broader regional security discussions.