The U.S. military said two people were killed when it struck a vessel actively involved in narco-trafficking on Aug. 23, the first such attack in two months.
U.S. Southern Command said in a post on X that Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere “executed a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.”
Southern Command said two narcoterrorists were killed in the first boat strike since June 21, when two people were killed in an incident in the Caribbean.
“This operation is a clear and decisive reminder that SOUTHCOM is taking the fight directly to the cartels,” Southern Command said.
Gen. Francis L. Donovan, head of U.S. Southern Command, said the task force—which replaced Operation Southern Spear earlier this month—had been set up to “accelerate, synchronize, and execute lethal actions against these destabilizing narco-terrorist networks.”
‘Total Systemic Friction’
“We are committed to imposing total systemic friction on narco-terrorists—disrupting their operations, dismantling their leadership, and eliminating cartel terror across the region,” Donovan said.
“Let me be clear, we will not permit narco-terrorists to operate with impunity in the Western Hemisphere, nor will we allow their deadly poison to reach American communities.”
The attack brings the number of people killed since the Trump administration began targeting boats allegedly trafficking drugs in early September 2025 to at least 215.
On Aug. 3, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees and a former vice presidential candidate, said he had reviewed the classified notifications provided to Congress regarding more than 65 kinetic strikes through June 2026.
“A careful review of the available evidence suggests that the United States has killed individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking,” Kaine said. “They are murder victims.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has previously said he will do whatever it takes to stop drugs and narcotics trafficking.
“We have almost no drugs coming into our country by the sea, by the waterways, and you know why?” he said on Nov. 17, 2025. “It’s pretty obvious.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the Department of War for a statement regarding Kaine’s comments, but did not receive a response by publication time.
The latest incident came just three days after the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 15 people linked to two of Ecuador’s biggest gangs for their involvement in monthly shipments of thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Ecuador, via Mexico, to the United States.
Military personnel patrol a market as they carry out weapons and drug checks in Quito on Feb. 10, 2026, as part of the fight against crime. Rodrigo Buendia/AFP via Getty Images
The Treasury on Aug. 20 published a map showing what it said were routes used by Ecuadorian gangs to smuggle drugs across the Eastern Pacific to Mexico, from where it is smuggled across the border into the United States.
The Treasury said the 15 individuals it sanctioned were part of a network that was affiliated with Los Choneros and Los Lobos, which were designated as foreign terrorist organizations in September 2025.
“Operating under the guise of legitimate fishing businesses, a fleet of Ecuador-based vessels near Manta, Ecuador, secretly transfers cocaine to small power boats—known as go-fast vessels—that transit north through the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPAC), en route to the United States,” the Treasury said.
The Treasury said the Ecuadorian network was working with both the Sinaloa Cartel and its rivals, the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación.
The letters “CJNG,” for the group’s formal name, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, cover the facade of an abandoned home in El Limoncito, Michoacan state, Mexico, Oct. 30, 2021. Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo
In August 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard launched Operation Pacific Viper, which uses a combination of aircraft, cutters, and tactical teams to intercept, seize, and disrupt the flow of cocaine and other drugs toward the United States.
Cocaine Seized
As of June 2026, Operation Pacific Viper had seized more than 112 tons of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific.
It remains unclear why some narcotrafficking boats have been targeted by kinetic strikes, while others are intercepted and the drugs on board seized.
The Treasury says some legitimate fishing businesses use their commercial cover to support narcoterrorist networks.
In recent years, Ecuador has become a major transit hub for cocaine being exported to North America, and the country has seen a massive spike in violence linked to the drug trade.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa delivers a speech at the Eloy Alfaro Superior Military School on the outskirts of Quito on Nov. 26, 2025. Rodrigo Buendia/AFP via Getty Images
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has partnered with the Trump administration to target the narcotics traffickers.
On March 3, 2026, Southern Command
that U.S. and Ecuadorian military forces had conducted joint operations against designated terrorist organizations.
On Aug. 20, Ecuadorian Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo announced that two U.S. warships with interceptor boats and helicopters would begin patrolling Ecuador’s territorial waters as part of the war on drugs.
