President Trump’s administration has intensified military operations against narco-terrorist networks in the Eastern Pacific through a series of coordinated strikes. On April 26, U.S. Southern Command executed a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and engaged in drug trafficking operations. The operation resulted in three male narco-terrorists being killed with no U.S. military personnel harmed.

A separate strike conducted on April 24 also targeted a suspected narco-terrorist vessel, resulting in two male narco-terrorists being killed without U.S. casualties.

These strikes are part of Operation Southern Spear, a sustained campaign by U.S. Southern Command to detect, disrupt, and degrade transnational criminal and illicit maritime networks operating in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean. The operation has now led to five alleged narco-terrorists being killed within two days.

U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan reported that Joint Task Force Southern Spear has significantly disrupted illicit maritime activity within the Western Hemisphere over six months of operations, including intercepting and seizing six vessels illegally transporting sanctioned oil. SOUTHCOM states that Operation Southern Spear is designed to choke off illicit maritime financing and dismantle cartel routes by targeting the dark fleet that enables transnational criminal activities.