By: Staff Writer
September 22, 2026
The US military killed four people this past Saturday in a Caribbean boat strike that were suspected of drug trafficking.
The U.S. military stated that intelligence confirmed the vessel’s active involvement in narcotics trafficking and associated it with designated terrorist organizations (“narcoterrorists”). However, officials did not publicly release evidence proving the boat was carrying drugs or identify those killed.
The precise coordinates of the vessel has not been released.
This latest attack brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 231 in 69 strikes since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” almost a year ago. As with most of the military’s statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes.
The Trump administration is pursuing deals with allied nations to extend its offensive to land across multiple Latin American countries. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Panama last month that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow the U.S. to carry out joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil. Guatemala denied reaching such a deal.
Ecuador launched similar missions with the U.S. in March. Last month, the U.S. military worked with Ecuador to board and sink a vessel that was allegedly being used as a refueling station for drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific, according to U.S. Southern Command.
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 U.S. and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing smugglers.
The first of these Caribbean boat strikes stretch back to January, 2025 and prior to this past Saturday, the last fatal strike was on January 3, 2026.