drug trafficking

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. military has killed four people in a strike against a boat that was allegedly carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The announcement on Wednesday comes as the Trump administration continues its divisive campaign against drug cartels in the waters off South America.

The Trump administration asserted without providing any evidence that the boats were carrying illegal drugs. Fourteen boats that the administration alleged were being operated by drug traffickers have been struck, killing 43 people.

Over the decades, the U.S. government has sent billions of dollars in aid to Colombia to help the country stamp out its cocaine industry. Now President Donald Trump is threatening to cut off aid to Colombia, jeopardizing the longtime antidrug cooperation and other security arrangements, including what analysts say is a covert CIA presence in the country.

The strikes were launched Monday and announced on social media Tuesday. This is the first time multiple strikes have been announced in a single day. They mark a continued escalation in the pace of the strikes, which began in early September and had been spaced weeks apart.

President Donald Trump says U.S. military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean were legal because they carried drugs being delivered to the United States. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said maritime law enforcement statistics show that not all boats suspected of carrying drugs actually have drugs onboard.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. military has conducted its eighth strike against an alleged drug vessel. The Tuesday night strike occurred in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The seven previous strikes all targeted vessels in the Caribbean.

The United States struck another small boat accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela, killing six people, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.

Democrats and at least one Republican are trying to counter the administration's extraordinary assertion of presidential war power to destroy vessels in the Caribbean.

It's the fourth deadly strike in the Caribbean and the latest since revelations that President Donald Trump told lawmakers he was treating drug traffickers as unlawful combatants and military force was required to combat them.

The U.S. military started attacking boats off the coast of Venezuela on Sept. 2, killing 17 people in what leaders say is an effort to thwart drug smuggling. Trump has focused on Venezuela in his second presidency. Experts in crime, drugs and Venezuela say the South American country plays a minor role in trafficking drugs that reach the U.S.

A drug informant who helped the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration build some of its biggest cases has been arrested and charged with scheming to extort major cocaine traffickers facing extradition from Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

The not guilty plea from Ovidio Guzmán López came Monday during his initial court appearance after being extradited from Mexico on Friday to face drug trafficking, money laundering and other charges.