The U.S. Army attacked another suspected drug trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, killing two people, the U.S. Southern Command reported on social media X. According to intelligence services, the vessel was traveling along known narcotics trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific and was involved in narcotics operations. The post added that 'two narcoterrorists' were killed during this action. The offensive was confirmed just hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that 'some of the main cartel drug traffickers' in the region 'have decided to cease all narcotics operations indefinitely due to recent (and highly effective) kinetic actions in the Caribbean.' Hegseth did not provide details or data to support this claim, made in a post on his personal social media account. Attacks on vessels, which began in September 2025, have decreased in frequency since January, a month in which there was only one after the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
