U.S. military forces carried out a new lethal kinetic strike in the Eastern Pacific on Wednesday, resulting in the deaths of three men, as part of Operation Southern Spear, the anti-drug campaign launched by the Trump administration in September 2025.
The U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) confirmed the operation through a statement in which it specified that the action was ordered by its commander, General Francis L. Donovan, and carried out by the Joint Task Force Southern Spear.
The official text described the vessel as "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations."
He detailed that the vessel was traveling along known drug trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was involved in drug trafficking operations.
Three alleged narco-terrorists died during the operation. No U.S. military personnel were injured.
The attack on April 15th is the number 52 of Operation Southern Spear and raises the total number of deaths in the campaign to approximately 178 since its beginning, according to data from the Washington Examiner.
The operation has maintained an intense pace throughout the week.
Just 24 hours earlier, on Tuesday, a previous attack by the same force killed four people in the Eastern Pacific.
Last Friday, two simultaneous attacks left five dead and one survivor rescued.
In total—only between April 11 and April 15— the operation killed at least 12 people in four distinct actions.
The legal basis of the campaign is the Executive Order 14157, signed by President Trump on January 20, 2025, which designated major Latin American cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
This classification allows for the use of lethal force in international waters without the need for capture or prior judicial process.
On February 20, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally designated eight organizations: Tren de Aragua, MS-13, Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel Unidos, Los Zetas, Cártel del Golfo, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana.
International controversy
The operation, however, has generated increasing international controversy.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights categorize the attacks as extrajudicial killings that are clearly illegal.
In January 2026, the families of two citizens of Trinidad and Tobago -Chad Joseph, 26 years old, and Rishi Samaroo, 41- filed a federal lawsuit in Washington, claiming that both died on October 14, 2025, in an attack on a civilian vessel while returning home after working in Venezuela.
"If the U.S. Government believed that Rishi had done something wrong, they should have arrested him, not eliminated him. They must be held accountable," stated Sallycar Korasingh, sister of Samaroo, as reported by the ACLU.
The governments of Colombia and Venezuela have also condemned the operations.
The lawsuit filed in January could compel the White House to disclose the legal grounds of the campaign, which military analysts have described as the largest U.S. military presence in the Caribbean since the Missile Crisis.
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