The U.S. military said the “lethal kinetic attacks on two vessels” killed three people on one ship and two on another.
Published December 19, 2025
The U.S. military has killed five more people on ships in the Pacific, bringing the death toll from the Trump administration’s military operations against suspected maritime drug traffickers since September to at least 104.
The US Army Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced on Friday that it conducted “lethal kinetic attacks on two ships” in the Eastern Pacific Ocean at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, killing three people on one ship and two on the other.
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Thursday’s attack by the U.S. military came a day after another ship was attacked in international waters, also in the eastern Pacific, killing four people, Southcom said.
The U.S. military said the nine victims of the two-day attack were “male narco-terrorists,” but Washington has presented no evidence that drug trafficking was involved in the attacks that have destroyed nearly 30 ships and killed more than 100 people in the Pacific and Caribbean since September.
Defense Secretary Hegseth is also under intense scrutiny after reportedly ordering a second attack on survivors clinging to floating boat wreckage after an earlier attack on the ship. Attacks on shipwreck survivors are considered a war crime, according to legal experts.
Latin American leaders and legal experts have branded the U.S. attack an “extrajudicial killing,” but President Trump has sought to justify the killings as necessary to stop drug trafficking into the United States from Latin American drug cartels, particularly those based in Venezuela.
Trump also ordered large-scale military deployments to Latin America and threatened to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power for overseeing drug-trafficking cartels.
Earlier this week, President Trump upped the ante by ordering a “total” naval blockade of all oil tankers under U.S. sanctions leaving Venezuelan ports. This measure is aimed at restricting the country’s oil resources and hindering its economy.
Maduro has slammed Washington’s military mobilization and accused Trump of using the fight against drug trafficking as a cover for “regime change” in Venezuela and stealing the country’s oil reserves.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Thursday he was ready to mediate between the United States and Venezuela to “avoid armed conflict.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has also offered to act as a mediator to find a “peaceful solution without U.S. intervention.”
Lula, one of Latin America’s most influential leaders, told reporters that Brazil was “very concerned” about the growing crisis between Washington and Caracas.
Lula reportedly told Trump: “Shooting things is not going to solve things. The best way to find solutions is to sit around the table.”
“I will contribute to a peaceful settlement on the continent, at the mercy of both Venezuela and the United States.”
Lula also said he was concerned about what was behind the US campaign.
“It’s not just about overthrowing Maduro. What are the other interests that we don’t know about yet?” He added that he didn’t know whether it was about Venezuelan oil, critical minerals or rare earths.
“No one has said specifically why this war is needed,” he added.
According to the Associated Press, about 15,000 U.S. military personnel are currently participating in the U.S. operation, the largest military buildup in Latin America in generations, as well as 11 warships, including America’s largest aircraft carrier, and a state-of-the-art U.S. Marine Corps F-35 fighter squadron, along with other planes and drones.
