April 19, 2026 / 10:55 PM EDT / CBS/AP
The U.S. military said it struck a vessel it accused of carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday, killing three people.
The attack is part of a campaign the Trump administration began in early September of targeting suspected drug-smuggling boats in Latin American waters. The effort, which has also included strikes in the eastern Pacific, has killed at least 181 people and targeted at least 54 vessels, according to counts tied to the campaign.
Despite ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the series of strikes has intensified again in the past week, underscoring the administration’s continued push to stop what it calls “narcoterrorism” in the Western Hemisphere. The military has not produced public evidence that the vessels hit were carrying drugs.
A U.S. Southern Command spokesperson previously told CBS News that, “For operational security reasons, we cannot discuss specific sources or methods.”
The campaign began as the U.S. built up what officials describe as the largest military presence in the region in generations and preceded the January raid that resulted in the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro was brought to New York on drug-trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty.
In Sunday’s strike, Southern Command said it targeted suspected traffickers moving along known smuggling routes and posted a video on X showing a small boat underway before a massive explosion engulfed the vessel.
President Trump has declared the U.S. to be in “armed conflict” with drug cartels and defended the strikes as necessary to reduce the flow of drugs into the United States and curb overdose deaths. Critics, however, have questioned the legality of the strikes and faulted the administration for offering little public evidence that those killed were “narcoterrorists.”