US military kills four in Caribbean boat strike amid anti-cartel campaign

The US military said it attacked a boat suspected of being used to smuggle drugs in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday, killing four people, as the Trump administration presses ahead with its yearlong campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America.

The strike takes the number of people killed in US military boat strikes to at least 235 in 70 attacks since the administration began targeting what it calls "narcoterrorists" in September 2025. President Donald Trump has said the US is in "armed conflict" with cartels in Latin America and has defended the attacks as a way to curb the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses.

As with most of the military's statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, US Southern Command said the latest attack targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs. A video posted on X showed what appeared to be an explosion destroying a moving boat, which the military described as a go-fast vessel.

The administration is also seeking agreements with allied countries to expand its offensive on land across several Latin American nations. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Panama in August that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow the US to carry out joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil. Guatemala denied reaching such an agreement. Ecuador launched similar missions with the US in March.

The latest strike in the Caribbean underlines the administration's continued military campaign at sea and its push to widen that effort in Latin America, even as it has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing smugglers.