Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth announced the destruction by US forces of a vessel allegedly used to traffic drugs in international waters in the Caribbean.
He reported in X that the US military hit the boat. Hegseth claimed that it was transporting drugs for members of an organization considered terrorist by US authorities. The name of the organization was not specified. The Pentagon chief said that “three male narco-terrorists were on board during the strike, which took place in international waters“. They were killed.
Hegseth again compared the drug cartels operating in South America, which smuggle drugs into the United States, to the terrorist group Al Qaeda.
“The military will deal with them just like they deal with Al Qaeda. We will continue to track them, find them and kill them“, he added.
In recent weeks, US forces have destroyed several boats in the Caribbean under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
The United States' strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea are illegal. This was announced by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, quoted by NOVA.
Volker Turk called on the United States to immediately stop the attacks. He called them “extrajudicial killings“. He added that even if the fight against drug trafficking is important, what the US military is doing "has no justification in international law".
It is estimated that around 60 people have been killed by the US military in air strikes on boats at sea.