Known U.S. strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since Sept. 2
Since Sept. 2, the U.S. military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that the Trump administration says are smuggling drugs, killing dozens of people.
This is a drastic departure from past practice. The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, has typically treated maritime drug smuggling in the Caribbean as a law enforcement problem, interdicting boats and arresting people for prosecution if suspicions of illicit cargo turn out to be correct.
A broad range of legal specialists on the use of lethal force have said that the strikes are illegal extrajudicial killings because the military is not permitted to deliberately target civilians — even suspected criminals — who do not pose an imminent threat of violence.
The White House has said the killings are lawful. In a notice to Congress, the administration said President Trump had “determined” that the United States is in a formal armed conflict with drug cartels and that crews of drug-running boats are “combatants.”
To the extent that it has supplied a legal theory to bridge the conceptual gulf between drug trafficking and an armed attack, it has pointed to the deaths of tens of thousands of American drug users each year from overdoses. But a surge in overdoses over the past decade was mostly caused by fentanyl that comes from labs in Mexico, not cocaine that comes on boats from South America.
The New York Times is tracking the boat strikes as details become available. The strike locations and casualty figures are drawn from postings by Mr. Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, or the U.S. Southern Command, and have not been independently confirmed by The Times.
Known U.S. strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since Sept. 2
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Dec. 29
2 killed
This was the 30th strike announced by the U.S. military since early September and marked a continued shift in recent weeks toward attacks in the Pacific.
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Dec. 22
1 killed
The U.S. military said this strike in the eastern Pacific targeted a boat that had been transporting drugs along known trafficking routes.
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Dec. 18
5 killed
With these two strikes announced by the Pentagon’s U.S. Southern Command, the total number of people killed in the campaign surpassed 100.
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Dec. 17
4 killed
This strike was announced by the Pentagon’s U.S. Southern Command less than a half hour before an address to the nation by President Trump. It was the sixth in a row targeting boats in the Pacific.
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Dec. 15
8 killed
Eight men were killed in three vessels that were struck in the Eastern Pacific, according to the Pentagon’s U.S. Southern Command. One of the three was at a full stop in a military video clip.
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Dec. 4
4 killed
This strike in the Eastern Pacific was the first in over two weeks, and was announced at a moment of heightened scrutiny of the U.S. military’s boat strike campaign.
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Nov. 15
3 killed
The announcement of this strike in the Pacific came hours after the Navy said its largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, had arrived in the Caribbean.
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Nov. 12
4 killed
In a departure, the announcement of this attack came from the Pentagon’s U.S. Southern Command, not the president or defense secretary, and it was four days after the strike.
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Nov. 9
6 killed
These were two separate strikes on two boats in the Eastern Pacific.
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Nov. 6
3 killed
This was the tenth boat destroyed in the Caribbean.
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Nov. 4
2 killed
This was the sixteenth strike overall, and the seventh in the Pacific Ocean.
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Nov. 1
3 killed
This was the ninth boat destroyed in the Caribbean.
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Oct. 29
4 killed
This was the sixth strike in the Pacific in eight days.
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Oct. 27
15 killed
Mr. Hegseth said a total of 15 people were aboard four boats that the U.S. military destroyed in three separate strikes on this day in the eastern Pacific Ocean. U.S. surveillance spotted one of the men clinging to wreckage and alerted the Mexican Navy, which was closest to the sighting. Search teams tried to find and rescue him for four days but could not. He is presumed to be dead.
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Oct. 23
6 killed
This attack, in the Caribbean Sea, was the first at night, Mr. Hegseth said.
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Oct. 22
3 killed
This was the second strike in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
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Oct. 21
2 killed
This was the first strike in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
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Oct. 17
3 killed
Mr. Hegseth described those on the boat as affiliated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional, a Colombian guerrilla group. The strike took place in the Caribbean Sea.
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Oct. 16
2 killed, 2 rescued
This strike was on a semisubmersible in the Caribbean Sea. Two men from the boat were rescued by the U.S. military and repatriated within days to Colombia and Ecuador.
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Oct. 14
6 killed
This strike took place “just off the Coast of Venezuela,” Mr. Trump said.
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Oct. 2
4 killed
Colombia’s president said this boat was carrying Colombian citizens.
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Sept. 19
3 killed
Officials from the Dominican Republic said they recovered cocaine from the wreckage after this strike.
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Sept. 15
3 killed
Colombia’s president said the strike occurred near his country and killed an innocent fisherman.
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Sept. 2
11 killed
The first strike on a boat alleged to be carrying drugs was near Trinidad in the Caribbean Sea. The boat appeared to have turned around before being struck.
