SOUTHCOM Kills 4 on Caribbean Smuggling Boat, Bringing Reported Strike Death Toll to 227
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 26
SOUTHCOM Kills 4 on Caribbean Smuggling Boat, Bringing Reported Strike Death Toll to 227
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 26
Summary
Four alleged drug smugglers were killed on Aug. 25 when Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere struck a go-fast boat on a Caribbean trafficking route, SOUTHCOM said.
Confirmed intelligence tied the vessel to active narco-trafficking, and Gen. Francis L. Donovan said the task force would keep conducting “precise, lethal operations” against cartel networks.
The attack was the 68th reported U.S. strike on suspected cartel vessels since September and came a day after SOUTHCOM said two people were killed in an Eastern Pacific strike—the first after more than two months of calm.
At least 227 people have now been killed in the roughly year-old campaign, which the Trump administration says is needed to curb drug flows and overdose deaths in the United States.
Washington is also seeking to expand the offensive onto land through joint operations with Latin American partners; Ecuador has launched such missions, while Guatemala denied agreeing to one.