Two killed in a US strike targeting an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific

Two people were killed in a US strike targeting a suspected drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced, in the latest such attack in international waters.

The United States deployed warships to the Caribbean and sent F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico, as part of a military operation aimed, it said, at stopping drug smuggling into US territory.

Higseth wrote on X: “The intelligence service confirmed the boat was involved in drug smuggling, crossing a known drug smuggling route and carrying drugs… The strike was carried out in international waters in the eastern Pacific”.

He added, “We’ll find and destroy every boat that intends to smuggle drugs into America to poison our citizens… Protecting the homeland is our top priority.”

More than 15 US raids on boats that Washington says are used for drug smuggling in the Caribbean have killed at least 67 people in recent weeks, drawing criticism from governments in the region.

Experts believe that the attacks that began in early September amount to extrajudicial killings, even if they targeted known drug dealers, and Washington hasn’t provided any evidence to prove that the targets were smuggling drugs or posed a threat to the United States.

Governments and families of the victims said that many of the dead were civilians, and most of them were fishermen.

For his part, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who faces formal drug trafficking charges in the United States, accused Washington of using drug trafficking as a pretext to impose regime change in Caracas in order to control Venezuelan oil.

Maduro insists that no drug cultivation takes place in Venezuela, which he says is being used against its will as a transit route for smuggling Colombian cocaine.

The Trump administration explained in a memo to Congress that the United States is engaged in an armed conflict against Latin American drug cartels, which it describes as terrorist groups, in justifying the strikes.

For his part, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ruled out on Tuesday any US ground military intervention in Venezuela, reiterating his willingness to play the role of mediator between Washington and Caracas.

“I don’t want us to reach the point of a ground invasion of Venezuela by the US armed forces,” Lula said in an interview with several international news agencies, including Agence France-Presse, from the city of Belém in northern Brazil.

Pope Leo XIV also criticized the US military deployment off the coast of Venezuela on Tuesday, saying it increases tensions, while violence leads to no result.

In response to a question from a journalist as he left his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Leo XIV said that any country has the right to use its army to defend peace.

The Pope added, “In this particular case, the situation seems a little different, as this increases tensions,” referring to reports of “US warships approaching the Venezuelan coast”.

He stressed that violence won’t lead to any result, but the solution is dialogue.