The latest U.S. military strike on a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean killed three people Sunday, according to a social media post by U.S. Southern Command.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration’s campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters has gone on since early September and killed at least 186 people in total. Other strikes have taken place in the Caribbean Sea.<\/p>\n
The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs.<\/p>\n
When asked about a previous strike in the eastern Pacific that\u00a0killed two men<\/span>, a spokesperson for U.S. Southern Command told CBS News: “For operational security reasons, we cannot discuss specific sources or methods.”<\/p>\n After Sunday’s attack, Southern Command posted a video on X showing a boat moving swiftly in the water before an explosion left it in flames. It repeated previous statements by saying it had targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes.<\/p>\n The attacks began as the U.S. built up its largest military presence in the region in generations and came months ahead of the raid in January that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. He was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n The campaign has ramped up again in recent weeks<\/span>, with at least eight boat strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific so far this month.<\/p>\n President 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. <\/p>\n Critics, meanwhile, have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes.<\/p>\n