Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Sunday that the US conducted a strike Friday on a boat that American intelligence officials believed was involved in illegal drug trafficking in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
Hegseth wrote in a\u00a0post on X\u00a0that the vessel was affiliated with a Colombian terrorist organization and had \u201csubstantial amounts of narcotics\u201d on board. He said the three men on the boat were all killed and no US forces were harmed.<\/p>\n
This is the seventh known strike in a series of recent attacks by the US military on vessels that the Trump administration says are involved in drug trafficking. It comes days after another strike on an alleged drug boat that CNN reported appeared to be the first time an attack did not kill everyone on board. President Donald Trump said Saturday the survivors of that strike were released to\u00a0their home countries\u00a0of Ecuador and Colombia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people,\u201d Hegseth wrote Sunday. \u201cThe United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are\u2014they will be hunted, and killed, just like Al Qaeda.\u201d<\/p>\n
The strikes are a part of the Trump administration\u2019s hardening stance against South American countries allegedly involved in smuggling illicit drugs into the US. The president recently authorized the CIA to operate in Venezuela and has been weighing military action inside the country as part of a pressure campaign to oust President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/p>\n
Trump has also clashed publicly with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who accused the US last week of murdering an innocent Colombian national during one of its Caribbean strikes. Trump announced Sunday he would cancel all US payments and subsidies to the country.<\/p>\n
Petro\u00a0responded on X, calling Trump \u201cignorant\u201d and denying his involvement in illegal drug trade.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has produced a\u00a0classified legal opinion\u00a0seeking to justify lethal strikes against a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers, CNN has reported. The opinion is significant,\u00a0legal experts previously told CNN, because it appears to give grounds for the president designating drug traffickers as enemy combatants and having them summarily killed without legal review.<\/p>\n
Historically, people involved in drug trafficking have been considered criminals with due process rights, with the Coast Guard interdicting drug-trafficking vessels and arresting smugglers.<\/p>\n
The Senate blocked a push earlier this month to limit Trump\u2019s ability to command the military to strike alleged drug boats without congressional authorization.<\/p>\n
Sens. Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski were the only Republican lawmakers to cross party lines and support the resolution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe basically are summarily executing people who are accused of something. It\u2019s a terrible idea,\u201d Paul, who joined with Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine to force a vote on reining in Trump\u2019s war powers, told CNN on Thursday.<\/p>\n
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at\u00a0CNN.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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