The U.S. military killed four people in a strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea on Wednesday, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced, the 47th lethal kinetic strike under Joint Task Force Southern Spear since operations began in September 2025.
SOUTHCOM stated on X that the vessel was “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.”
The command described it as operated by a “Designated Terrorist Organization” but did not identify which group. No U.S. military personnel were harmed. SOUTHCOM posted a 15-second video of the strike to X.
Applying total systemic friction on the cartels.
On March 25, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed… pic.twitter.com/VTzo4wkbpG
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) March 25, 2026
Wednesday’s strike landed six days after SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the boat attacks “aren’t the answer” to cocaine smuggling in the Americas. Donovan said the command was pivoting toward dismantling trafficking organizations wholesale rather than targeting individual vessels.
The U.S. military has killed at least 163 people across 47 strikes in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific since September 2025. SOUTHCOM did not provide evidence that Wednesday’s vessel carried drugs, consistent with most prior strike announcements.
A 2020 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) report found that 74% of cocaine reaching the United States arrived via the Pacific, with only 8% transported by fast boats through the Caribbean.
The United Nations has condemned the strikes as extrajudicial killings.
Wednesday’s operation was the first Caribbean strike in March. A March 19 strike in the Eastern Pacific initially left three apparent survivors. The U.S. Coast Guard later recovered two of those individuals dead and transferred one survivor to the Costa Rican Coast Guard.
