US strikes vessel in eastern Pacific, killing 1
By Clay Voytek, CNN
(CNN) — The US military conducted a strike against a “low-profile vessel” allegedly trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing one person, according to US Southern Command.
“On Dec. 22, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters,” SOUTHCOM wrote on X.
SOUTHCOM added no US service members were harmed in the strike.
At least 105 people have now been killed in strikes on suspected drug boats as part of a campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, that the Trump administration has said is aimed at curtailing narcotics trafficking. The US military most recently struck two alleged drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean last week, killing 5 people.
The administration has labeled those killed “unlawful combatants” and claimed the ability to engage in lethal strikes without judicial review due to a classified Justice Department finding.
The strikes are part of increased US military action in South America in recent months amid a pressure campaign on Venezuela, a nation that President Donald Trump has accused of stealing US “oil, land and other assets.”
Trump last week ordered a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving Venezuela. The US has so far intercepted two other tankers off the coast of Venezuela this month and remains in pursuit of another. Those interdictions have come amid a massive US naval and troop buildup in the Caribbean as Trump applies pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, including those attempts to cut off his oil revenues.
Trump on Monday declined to answer a question about his endgame in Venezuela, even as he again raised the threat of land strikes and said it’d be “smart” for Maduro to step down.
“There’s no answer. He can do whatever he wants. We have a massive armada — the biggest we’ve ever had, and the biggest we’ve ever had in South America,” Trump said. “He can do whatever he wants. It’s all right, whatever he wants to do. If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it’d be the last time he’s ever able to play tough.”
Venezuela claimed on Monday that the naval blockade ordered by the United States would disrupt global energy supplies in a letter signed by Maduro and read by Foreign Minister Yván Gil.
Maduro also criticized the US military deployment in the Caribbean, which the US has said is aimed at combating drug trafficking, calling it “a direct threat involving the use of force.” The letter condemned the US attacks on vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific, describing them as part of a “systematic practice of lethal force” outside international law.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Alessandra Freitas contributed to this report.
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