Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Secretary of War pete hegseth has announced another attack on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the eastern region CalmIn which at least two people died and the total number of deaths in the Trump administration’s attacks so far has reached 66.
America started firing on boats Caribbean on September 2 and has since expanded its attacks into the Pacific, with the administration justifying its actions by claiming that it is preventing illegal drug traffickers from reaching US shores, while failing to provide evidence to support its claims.
Human rights groups and international law experts have warned that the killings are illegal, and governments have also Colombia And Venezuela The administration has been accused of being involved in extrajudicial killing.
one in post on x On Tuesday, Hegseth included 18 seconds of night-vision footage of the most recent attack, showing the ship being hit multiple times and a fire erupting aboard the ship, sending a thick plume of smoke over the otherwise calm ocean waves. In the footage, people in the boat were stopped.
“Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a deadly attack on a ship operated by a designated terrorist organization,” the secretary wrote.
“Intelligence confirmed that the ship was involved in illegal narcotics trafficking, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and was carrying narcotics. The attack was carried out in international waters in the eastern Pacific.
“No US forces were harmed in the attack, and two male narco-terrorists – who were on board the ship – were killed. We will find and eliminate every ship intent on smuggling drugs into the US to poison our citizens. Protecting the homeland is our top priority. No cartel terrorist stands a chance against US forces.”
Lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties have pressed the administration for more information about who is being targeted and the legal basis for its actions.
By way of response, Trump has asserted that the US is engaged in an “armed conflict” with the drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the George W. Bush administration when it declared a “war on terrorism” following the al-Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001.
in your comment on The Daily Show Monday, host Jon Stewart referred to the murders As he attacked the administration for deferring to the courts on whether it could refund SNAP during the government shutdown, arguing that its sudden interest in following the “rules of the road” conflicted with its lack of concern for due process in the cases of accused drug traffickers.
The latest attack comes as the USS Gerald R. The Ford aircraft carrier has left the Mediterranean on its way to the Caribbean, following Hegseth’s order to the area more than a week earlier.
This would add to the already strong buildup of American aircraft, ships, and thousands of troops in Latin America.
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the Ford and the destroyer USS Bainbridge passed through the Strait of Gibraltar on Tuesday and headed into the Atlantic.
Ford initially deployed five destroyers, but it is unclear whether all of them will proceed to the Caribbean. Two other destroyers of Ford’s strike group, USS Winston Churchill and USS Mahan, are now in the Mediterranean, and the latter is in port in Rota, Spain.
The other two destroyers, USS Forrest Sherman and USS Michener, are in the Red Sea, the official said.
Additional reporting by agencies.