The U.S. military has attacked and destroyed another ship as part of its ongoing and controversial crackdown on drug trafficking.
The strike was the first to take place on the Pacific side of South America. Previous attacks have hit seven ships in the Caribbean, killing at least 32 people.
The latest attack occurred off the coast of Colombia, killing two people, according to a person familiar with the operation. This attack differs from previous attacks off the coast of Venezuela, where the United States has deployed an unusual military presence.
In a brief video released by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a small boat half-full of brown packages can be seen traveling at sea. Seconds into the video, the ship explodes and floats motionless in flames.
In his post, Hegseth took the unusual step of equating alleged drug traffickers with the terrorist groups that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
“Just like Al Qaeda is waging war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our borders and on our people,” Hegseth said, adding that “there will be no asylum or forgiveness, only justice.”
By attacking a ship in the Pacific, the government expanded the scope of its operations, although the reasons for the expansion are unclear. The White House did not respond to a request for comment, and Hegseth did not provide further details beyond the video on X.
Donald Trump announced what appeared to be the first attack on a ship on September 3, releasing a brief video of the attack.
The Trump administration has since detailed more attacks but has not revealed many details about the targets beyond the death toll and allegations that the ships were carrying drugs. The attacks drew widespread condemnation from civil liberties groups and South American countries.
On Tuesday, The Guardian revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was providing much of the intelligence used to carry out the air strikes. Experts say the agency’s central role means much of the evidence used to select targets will almost certainly remain secret.
The president confirmed last Wednesday that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, but did not authorize what the agency would do.
White House officials are trying to justify the growing number of attacks with a dubious legal theory that claims the ships are linked to “designated terrorist organizations” with whom the United States is currently engaged in a “non-international armed conflict,” The Guardian reported.
Until this month, the government labeled Tren de Aragua and other cartels foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). Legal experts say simply designating drug cartels as free trade organizations does not give the government any additional authority to use deadly force.
White House officials have also sought to defend the attack internally and externally, claiming that Trump was exercising Title II powers, which allow the president to use force in self-defense in limited engagements.
The self-defense argument revolves around Trump’s designation of Troon de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization, a claim made by Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller to defend the deportation of dozens of Venezuelans earlier this year under the Foreign Enemy Act.
The U.S. government claims that Tron de Aragua has infiltrated Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime and therefore the presence of cartel members in the U.S. amounts to a “predatory invasion” by a foreign country that could deport any Venezuelan national.
But the government has yet to provide concrete evidence that Teron de Aragua has become a tool of the Venezuelan government, and legal experts contacted for this report said the White House would be able to justify the attack only if it could prove that.
The Guardian previously reported that the attack on the alleged Venezuelan drug-trafficking ship was largely overseen by Miller and his top deputy on the White House Homeland Security Council (HSC), Tony Salisbury.
Miller earlier this year authorized the Homeland Security Council to become its own entity during Trump’s second term, a marked departure from previous administrations in which the Homeland Security Council was considered part of the National Security Council and ultimately reported to the national security adviser.
This was the case, for example, on September 15, when a second Venezuelan ship was hit by a Hellfire missile. While the White House was informed more than four days ago that the Pentagon had identified the ship as a viable target, many senior White House officials were informed of the impending attack only hours before it occurred.
Reuters contributed to this report
