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The United States military carried out strikes Sunday on two vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean that officials said were transporting narcotics, killing six people on board, according to War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and were transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route,” Hegseth said Monday in a post on X. His statement included video footage showing explosions striking the boats.
The U.S. has conducted more than a dozen similar strikes since September near Venezuela’s coast and, more recently, in the eastern Pacific, resulting in the deaths of more than 70 people, Hegseth said. The operations come as Washington expands its military presence across the Caribbean Sea in what officials describe as an effort to disrupt transnational drug networks.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro alleged that President Donald Trump is using the strikes to destabilize his government, accusing the United States of coordinating with Venezuelan opposition groups. President Trump has dismissed those claims but defended the broader campaign as part of a strategy to confront “narco-terrorism.”
In September, the U.S. increased its military presence in the region, deploying a nuclear-powered submarine and several warships alongside the world’s largest aircraft carrier. The move prompted Venezuela to heighten its defenses and mobilize tens of thousands of troops across the country.
The announced strikes follow several in the region. RSBN previously reported on Oct. 30 that the U.S. military destroyed a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that was allegedly carrying narcotics, killing all four people aboard.
Hegseth, who had been traveling in Japan and Malaysia, announced the attack in a social media post, saying intelligence determined the craft was “transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics.”
He added that the strike took place in international waters and that no U.S. personnel were injured, stating that the Defense Department “carried out a lethal kinetic strike on yet another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization in the Eastern Pacific.”
“This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” he continued.