US Kills 14 ‘Narcoterrorists’ in Eastern Pacific Strikes  

The U.S. struck four boats in the Eastern Pacific said to be carrying narcotics.  

“Yesterday, at the direction of President [Donald] Trump, the Department of War carried out three lethal kinetic strikes on four vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO) trafficking narcotics,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth wrote on X Tuesday.  

The boats were known by “our intelligence apparatus,” Hegseth wrote above a declassified video of the strikes.  

A total of 14 “narcoterrorists” were killed in the strikes, according to the secretary, and one man survived.

“Regarding the survivor, [United States Southern Command] immediately initiated Search and Rescue (SAR) standard protocols,” Hegseth said. “Mexican [Search and Rescue] authorities accepted the case and assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue.”  

All the strikes were conducted in international waters, and no U.S. personnel were harmed, Hegseth said.  

The Trump administration has now carried out over a dozen strikes on boats said to be trafficking drugs.

“The Department has spent over TWO DECADES defending other homelands. Now, we’re defending our own,” Hegseth wrote. “These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.” 

In February, Trump’s State Department formally designated a number of criminal cartels, including Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and the Sinaloa Cartel, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in February that drug overdose deaths have fallen by 24% since the previous year, and yet drug overdose remains the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18-44, according to the CDC. 

Since Trump returned to the White House in January, illegal crossings at the southern border have plummeted. For months, the administration says not a single illegal alien has been paroled into the U.S. As predicted, the additional security and enforcement measures at the southern border have prevented illegal crossings but lead to increased drug trafficking, especially via sea.  

The U.S. is working to address this security threat and in September, Trump told Congress, “the United States will devote all necessary resources to punish criminals enabling the production, transportation, and smuggling of illicit drugs across our borders.”