Under the orders of the United States Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, the Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike against a vessel used for the illicit smuggling of narcotics in the eastern Pacific, in international waters.
The action concluded with the sunk vessel and three narcoterrorists dead, as confirmed by U.S. intelligence services.
The operation took place on November 15, when the joint force, deployed under the command of the United States Southern Command, identified and attacked a vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization that was traveling a known drug trafficking route and carrying a load of narcotics.
According to official information, the target was previously verified by military intelligence, which confirmed both the nature of the objective and its use for illicit drug trafficking.
In the attack, the three occupants of the vessel were killed, identified by authorities as "narcoterrorists" linked to that organization.
The vessel was destroyed at sea, in an area of the eastern Pacific where the United States claims that boats and other vessels regularly operate dedicated to transporting drugs to routes that subsequently connect with the American continent.
The sinking of this narco boat is part of a broader campaign by Southern Command, which in recent weeks has reported the destruction of more than a dozen vessels allegedly linked to drug trafficking in the waters of the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, operations in which, according to reports, most of the crew members have died.
These actions are presented as part of the effort to dismantle transnational criminal organizations and cut off drug supply routes to the United States.
Operation Southern Spear is also taking place alongside a significant increase in the U.S. naval presence in the region, which includes the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the Pentagon, in Caribbean waters, also under the orders of Hegseth and in support of President Donald Trump's directives to counter narcoterrorists and "protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and American territory."
From Southern Command, it is emphasized that these deployments and attacks are part of an integrated strategy aimed at directly pressuring drug trafficking networks operating in Latin America, through the combination of naval operations, intelligence, and targeted strikes against vessels used for drug trafficking, such as the drug boat destroyed in the eastern Pacific.
Since the beginning of the operation, U.S. forces have destroyed 20 vessels and taken down 75 suspected narco-terrorists in actions in the Caribbean and the Pacific, as part of what Washington describes as a "direct offensive against Latin American cartels."
The Pentagon spokesman, Sean Parnell, explained that the deployment aims to “detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit activities that affect the stability of the region.”
Meanwhile, the regime of Nicolás Maduro announced a "massive deployment" of troops, aircraft, and civilian militias in response to what it termed an "imperial threat." Caracas claims it will defend "every inch of Venezuelan territory" against a possible foreign incursion.
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