The U.S. military announced its latest strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the Southern Hemisphere on Monday night. It was the third announced strike in April by the U.S. Southern Command. Two male suspected “narco-terrorists” were killed in Monday’s strike, which is part of the ongoing efforts to eliminate suspected narco-trafficking as part of Operation Southern Spear. Seven suspected drug traffickers have been killed by U.S. military strikes in the last three days.
Continuing with the trend from earlier this week of informing about each strike with a categorization of “applying total systemic friction on the cartels,” Southern Command announced the latest military operation in a press release on its website and on multiple social media platforms.
“On April 13, at the direction of the commander of U.S. Southern Command, Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” said Southern Command.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” noted Southern Command. “Two male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed.”
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Coordinated military strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats coming from South America began in Sept. 2025. Known as Operation Southern Spear, the first military operation conducted in the Southern Hemisphere targeted a speedboat suspected of smuggling drugs out of Venezuela. Operation Southern Spear is a proactive, preventive military campaign “to enhance security and stability across the Western Hemisphere by detecting, disrupting, and degrading transnational criminal and illicit maritime networks,” according to a release on the U.S. Navy website.
Monday’s operation brings the total number of military strikes associated with Operation Southern Spear to 46. Including the two suspected narco-traffickers killed on Monday, the number of fatalities has reached at least 170.
