US Announces 10th Maritime Strike in Caribbean, Killing Six
Washington, October 24, 2025 — The United States has confirmed its 10th missile strike on a maritime vessel accused of smuggling drugs, killing all six people aboard, as the Trump administration’s controversial “narco-terrorist” bombing campaign accelerates across the Caribbean and Pacific.
The strike, conducted overnight in the Caribbean Sea, marks the third attack this week and brings the total death toll to 43 since the campaign began on September 2.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on his social media platform, saying that the victims were allegedly members of the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua. He claimed the vessel was “carrying narcotics” along a known smuggling route, though no evidence was provided to substantiate the allegations.
“If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat al-Qaeda,” Hegseth wrote. “Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.”
Hegseth also noted that this was the first nighttime boat strike carried out under the campaign, which has drawn international criticism for bypassing traditional legal frameworks for military action.
Legal and Human Rights Concerns Mount
The Trump administration’s expanding use of military force against alleged traffickers has sparked outrage from foreign governments and human rights experts.
Officials in Colombia and Venezuela have called the bombings “murder,” while United Nations human rights experts described them as “a potential violation of international law.”
“International law does not permit the unilateral use of force abroad to fight terrorism or drug trafficking,” said a joint statement from UN legal specialists, including Ben Saul, warning that the campaign could constitute extrajudicial killings.
The UN Charter permits military action primarily in cases of self-defense or under Security Council authorization, neither of which applies to these maritime strikes.
Critics also question the administration’s recent move to designate Latin American cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, arguing that such labels do not legally justify the use of military force without congressional approval.
Families of Victims Deny Trafficking Allegations
Families across the Caribbean and South America have disputed US claims that those killed were drug traffickers. In Trinidad and Tobago, relatives of Chad Joseph, one of the identified victims, say he was a fisherman, not a cartel member.
“They killed innocent people,” Joseph’s sister told local media. “My brother went out to fish, not to fight anyone.”
Banners and memorials have appeared in coastal towns like Las Cuevas, calling for accountability and demanding an international investigation.
Similar claims have emerged in Colombia and Ecuador, where survivors of a strike earlier this month were later released without charges after local authorities found no evidence of criminal activity.
Expanding Campaign Raises Political and Legal Questions
Since September, the US military has carried out ten confirmed boat strikes, targeting vessels allegedly tied to drug smuggling operations.
While the first three attacks occurred in September, seven more have taken place in October alone—two in the Pacific Ocean and the rest in the Caribbean.
One of the strikes on October 16 targeted a submersible vessel, marking the first time survivors were reported. The rapid escalation has raised concerns in Washington and abroad about the scope and legality of Trump’s new counter-narcotics strategy.
At a White House roundtable on Thursday, President Donald Trump defended his decision to bypass Congressional approval for the strikes.
“I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” Trump said. “We’re just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. They’re going to be, like, dead.”
Under the US Constitution, Congress holds the sole power to declare war. However, past presidents have used Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMFs) to justify limited interventions—though none explicitly cover anti-narcotics operations in foreign waters.
Trump Cites Overdose Deaths to Justify Strikes
Trump has repeatedly argued that the strikes are justified by the scale of the US drug crisis, claiming the narcotics trade has caused 300,000 overdose deaths in the past year.
However, official data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 73,690 Americans died of drug overdoses during the 12-month period ending in April 2025—less than one-fourth of Trump’s stated figure.
Human rights advocates say such inflated statistics are being used to justify lethal military actions outside legal bounds.
“This is a dangerous expansion of executive power under the guise of the drug war,” said Julia Morales, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. “If the US continues to act without oversight, it risks normalizing targeted killings on an international scale.”
Growing International Backlash
Regional governments have called for a halt to the bombings and urged the Organization of American States (OAS) and the UN Security Council to review the legality of the campaign.
Diplomatic sources in Mexico City and Brasilia say several Latin American nations are preparing a joint resolution condemning the strikes as a breach of sovereignty.
Meanwhile, US allies in NATO have privately expressed unease at the precedent being set, with one European diplomat telling Reuters that the campaign risks “eroding international norms against unilateral use of force.”
Despite mounting criticism, the Trump administration has given no indication it intends to scale back the operations.
“We will not stop until the networks are dismantled,” Hegseth said Friday. “The President has been clear: there is no safe harbor for narco-terrorists.”
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