US Kills Three in Caribbean Strike as Unproven “Narco-Terrorist” Claims Mount

By Staff, Agencies

The US military has killed three people in another strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, labeling those aboard “narco-terrorists” without publicly providing evidence to support claims that they were involved in drug trafficking.

On Wednesday, US Southern Command [SOUTHCOM] said Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere carried out what it called a “lethal kinetic strike” against a go-fast vessel traveling along routes Washington identifies as established narcotics-trafficking corridors.

SOUTHCOM said “confirmed intelligence” indicated the vessel was involved in narcotics trafficking, but disclosed neither the intelligence nor the identities of those killed, the drugs allegedly being transported, or any recovered narcotics.

Reuters said it could not independently verify the account.

Meanwhile, the strike comes as Washington expands its military campaign against vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that it alleges are linked to drug trafficking.

More than 220 people have reportedly been killed since the operations began in September 2025, as US forces increasingly use lethal strikes rather than intercepting vessels and pursuing arrests and prosecutions.

The policy has drawn growing condemnation from human rights organizations and international legal experts.

Human Rights Watch said the US carried out 69 strikes against vessels during the campaign’s first year, killing at least 227 people, and argued that the operations amount to unlawful extrajudicial executions because they occur outside an armed conflict and Washington has not established a lawful basis for using lethal military force.

Similarly, Amnesty International condemned attacks based on suspicions of narcotics trafficking, saying alleged criminal conduct alone does not justify lethal force under international human rights law. The group called for the practice of extrajudicial executions to end.

The campaign represents a major militarization of Washington’s so-called “war on drugs,” increasingly replacing maritime interception, detention and prosecution with direct military strikes.

Despite the Trump administration’s repeated claims that targeted vessels were carrying narcotics and that alleged trafficking groups pose national security threats, Washington has continued to withhold the underlying evidence in the latest and several previous strikes, leaving the identities of those targeted and the allegations against them unverified.