U.S. Armed Forces killed five men in new attacks on two vessels in the Pacific, allegedly linked to drug trafficking, announced U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) on Sunday. In a post on X, Southcom stated that the two vessels «were operated by designated terrorist organizations» and were transiting «known drug trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and conducting drug trafficking operations.» Southcom noted in the message that one person survived the attack on the first vessel, which had three crew members, and they immediately notified the Coast Guard to activate the search and rescue system. The second vessel had three crew members and all of them died, it added. The post is headlined «applying total systemic friction to the cartels» and is accompanied by a 34-second black-and-white video showing a boat exploding as it skims across the water, followed by a similar detonation on another boat. These new attacks take place within the framework of Operation Southern Spear, which the U.S. has been implementing since last September in the area of responsibility of Southern Command (Central America, South America, and the Caribbean). Operation Southern Spear was activated with the primary objective of increasing pressure on former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, captured in a U.S. military operation on January 3. No U.S. military personnel were injured in the attacks reported today, the note concluded.
