United States military forces “executed a kinetic strike” on a suspected drug-trafficking boat operating in the Caribbean Sea on Wednesday. Three “narco-terrorists” were killed in the strike, according to a release issued by forces with the U.S. Southern Command. It is the first known strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel that killed the occupants aboard in September.
“On September 9, under the direction of U.S. Southern Command, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean,” read the release. “Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking. The operation killed three narco-terrorists.”
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Before Wednesday’s operation in the Caribbean, the most recent such known strike occurred on Aug. 25, in which four suspected drug-traffickers were killed. Southern Command reported that there have been three known lethal “kinetic strikes” since Aug. 23 with nine total fatalities.
In prior releases issued by Southern Command, each strike was prefaced with having occurred under the direction of the commander of U.S. Southern Command, Gen. Francis L. Donovan. This was the first not to specify such a designation. He previously emphasized that the Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, the new designation which replaced Operation Southern Spear on Aug. 6, was committed to “imposing total systemic friction on narco-terrorists” to destabilize drug cartel trafficking networks in the Western Hemisphere and “eliminate cartel terror across the region.”
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“Let me be clear, we will not permit narco-terrorists to operate with impunity in the Western Hemisphere, nor will we allow their deadly poison to reach American communities,” said Donovan. “This operation is a powerful demonstration of our lethal precision, overwhelming capability, and absolute resolve to protect the U.S. homeland.”
Since military operations against suspected drug-trafficking boats originating from South America and operating in the waters of the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, there have been 69 known strikes, according to a tracker created by the New York Times. There have been 230 people known to have been killed by U.S. Southern Command in these strikes.
