(Washington, D.C.) -- U.S. Secretary of Defense (Secretary of War) Hegseth said the U.S. military struck two ships in the eastern Pacific on Tuesday, killing five suspected drug smugglers.
This marks the first such operation by the U.S. military in the Pacific since the Trump administration launched a new round of anti-drug campaigns.
Hegseth announced Wednesday afternoon (October 22) that the U.S. military attacked a ship in the eastern Pacific on Tuesday, killing two people. A few hours later, he announced that the military attacked another ship in the same area on Wednesday, killing three people.
Hegseth said that according to U.S. intelligence, the ships were smuggling drugs and were following a known drug trafficking route, but he did not provide evidence.
Prior to this, the U.S. military launched at least seven strikes on drug-carrying ships in the Caribbean, killing at least 32 people and leading to tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela and Colombia.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed on Wednesday that Venezuela has 5,000 Russian-made Igla-S portable surface-to-air missiles capable of countering U.S. forces deployed in the Caribbean. Colombia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement urging the United States to cease such attacks.
U.S. President Donald Trump, responding to media inquiries at the White House on Wednesday, stated that the U.S. government has the authority to attack drug-carrying ships and believes every strike saves American lives.
Trump noted that drug overdoses killed 300,000 Americans last year, giving him legal authority to launch anti-drug operations, but indicated that if he decides to target drug shipments from Venezuelan land, he would seek further approval from Congress.
Trump also engaged in a war of words with Colombian President Sergio Petro Esteban on Wednesday, calling him a "thug" and suggesting he is a drug trafficker leading his country to ruin. In response, Petro announced he would hire an American lawyer to defend himself legally.
