U.S. expands drug war to Pacific with second boat strike

The Trump administration announced its second strike in the Pacific targeting a suspected drug-smuggling vessel, marking an expansion of the antidrug campaign beyond the Caribbean. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operations, launched under Trump’s orders in September, have now killed dozens.

Source The New York Times

Trump boasted that the attacks “save American lives” and praised U.S. military precision, but human-rights and legal experts condemned the actions as potentially illegal. Colombia’s president accused Washington of killing Colombian citizens and called the strikes “murders.”

The White House claims the campaign is lawful under self-defense and anti-terrorism authority, having labeled Latin American cartels as “terrorist groups.” Legal scholars dispute this justification, warning that drug traffickers are criminals, not combatants, and that the U.S. military is not authorized to target them under international law.