US strikes another alleged drug boat -- this time off the coast of Colombia

Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times on Oct 22, 2025

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MEXICO CITY — The United States has struck an eighth alleged drug vessel, this time in the Pacific Ocean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday.

Hegseth said the airstrike in the eastern Pacific killed two people, bringing the death toll in the recent string of U.S. military attacks on alleged drug boats to 34.

In a short video clip posted on X by Hegseth, a small boat that appears to be carrying some kind of cargo is seen speeding through waves before a massive explosion hits, leaving the boat drifting on the water in flames.

In his social media post, Hegseth compared the alleged drug traffickers to violent terrorists.

“Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people,” Hegseth said. “There will be no refuge or forgiveness — only justice.”

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, he has gone to lengths to paint Latin American drug traffickers as a threat to national security, officially declaring several cartels as terrorist groups and ordering the Pentagon to use military force against them.

Trump, who says the U.S. is locked in an “armed conflict,” with the cartels, has deployed around 10,000 U.S. troops and a small armada of ships and warplanes to the Caribbean.

Previous strikes have occurred in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela.

Tuesday’s strike was the first in the Pacific. While it’s exact location was not released, it occurred off the coast of Colombia.

Trump has verbally sparred in recent days with Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, who has accused the U.S. of killing innocent civilians and using the strikes as an effort to overthrow the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.

After Petro accused the U.S. of murder, saying a previous strike had killed a Colombian fisherman in Colombian waters, Trump said without evidence that Petro was a “drug dealer” and warned that the U.S. would take unilateral action to combat drug traffickers there.