U.S. destroys alleged drug boat in Pacific, killing 2 more people
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U.S. U.S. military posts video of another alleged drug boat being destroyed in Pacific, killing 2 more people June 4, 2026 / 6:23 AM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google The U.S. military attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, killing two men, as the Trump administration wages a monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America.The latest attack, the fifth in about a week, brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 207 since the administration began targeting those it calls "narcoterrorists" in early September.As with most of the military's statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. A video posted on X showed a boat speeding through the water before bursting into flames.U.S. Southern Command said in its post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S. commander in Latin America. Donovan last week met with Cuban military leaders near the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay.President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in "armed conflict" with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing "narcoterrorists."Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.The strikes have drawn intense scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military legal scholars. The U.S. military's first strike in ea...
