US military’s drug boat strikes have now killed at least 240 people

The U.S. military killed five people Tuesday aboard what Southern Command described as a “go-fast vessel” associated with “narco-terrorists” in the eastern Pacific Ocean, bringing the death toll from its campaign against suspected drug traffickers to at least 240 since September 2025.

U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere carried out the Oct. 27 strike against a speedboat traveling along known drug-trafficking routes.

The command said intelligence confirmed the vessel’s involvement in narcotics trafficking but did not publicly provide evidence supporting that assessment, with the majority of these killings occurring at sea.

Video released by U.S. Southern Command on X appears to show the vessel sitting nearly motionless in the water before a large explosion engulfs it. The footage does not establish whether the vessel was anchored or disabled.

The attack was at least the third deadly strike carried out by SOUTHCOM this month. On Oct. 4, U.S. forces killed four people aboard another suspected drug-trafficking vessel.

Over the previous months, these strikes have gained mounting legal scrutiny, domestically and internationally. In September, the United Nations found reasonable grounds to believe the killings constituted murder under international law and warned that the broader campaign could amount to crimes against humanity.

The organization rejected the Trump administration’s argument that the United States is engaged in an armed conflict with designated terrorist organizations, finding that suspected drug trafficking does not constitute an armed attack justifying military force in self-defense.

The families of two men killed in an October 2025 strike have also sued the U.S. government, alleging wrongful death and extrajudicial killing. The lawsuit, filed with assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Constitutional Rights, concerns Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, both from Trinidad and Tobago.

Their families say the men had been fishing and working in Venezuela and were returning home when the military struck their boat. The lawsuit seeks damages and a finding that their deaths were unlawful.

The Trump administration has maintained that the strikes are lawful. SOUTHCOM previously told Task & Purpose that all military operations had complied with the law of armed conflict and that every person killed was a confirmed member of a designated terrorist organization.