The U.S. Southern Command confirmed on Sunday a new attack against a vessel linked to drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific Ocean, an operation that left six dead and took place just a day after President Donald Trump launched the regional coalition "Shield of the Americas" against the cartels.
According to an official statement released on social media, the Southern Spear Joint Task Force carried out a "lethal kinetic strike" against a vessel operating for organizations designated as terrorists.
The operation took place on March 8 under the direction of the commander of Southern Command, General Francis L. Donovan. According to military information, U.S. intelligence confirmed that the vessel was navigating known drug trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was involved in drug trafficking operations.
"Six male narcoterrorists were killed during this operation. No U.S. military forces were injured," stated Southern Command.
The announcement was accompanied by black and white aerial images showing the vessel at sea before the impact.
Since the beginning of this offensive in 2025, the U.S. military has carried out dozens of attacks against boats and semi-submersibles used by trafficking networks, resulting in over a hundred fatalities in those operations.
The actions are often directed against vessels detected in maritime corridors used by cartels to transport cocaine and other drugs from South America to North America.
It occurs following the launch of the "Shield of the Americas."
The new attack comes just 24 hours after the summit held in Miami, where Trump announced the creation of the "Shield of the Americas", a coalition of 12 Latin American countries aimed at combating drug trafficking, organized crime, and illegal immigration.
The initiative brings together Washington's allied governments in the region and marks a new phase of military and intelligence cooperation against the cartels.
In that context, the strike against the vessel in the Pacific emerges as one of the first high-profile actions following the announcement of the coalition, reflecting a shift towards a more aggressive strategy against criminal networks in the hemisphere.
Filed under: