U.S. Southern Command, which oversees South America, said the U.S. military struck five alleged drug-smuggling boats over two days, killing eight people while others jumped overboard and may have survived. The command said the attacks took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it did not disclose where the strikes occurred.
In a statement released Wednesday, Southern Command said it struck the first set of boats during the two-day operation and that three people were killed when the first boat was hit. Southern Command said people in the other two boats jumped overboard and distanced themselves from the vessels before those boats were attacked.
Southern Command did not reveal the body of water where the attacks occurred. The statement also did not say whether the people who jumped off the boats were rescued, even though the command said it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts.
Southern Command posted a video of Tuesday’s attack on social media. In that video, the command said it showed three boats traveling in a close formation that was unusual, and it described the vessels as being in a convoy along known narco-trafficking routes. Southern Command further said the boats had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes, but it did not provide evidence to back up the claim.
The command said it attacked two more boats on Wednesday, killing five people who were allegedly smuggling drugs along known trafficking routes. Southern Command did not provide evidence to support the allegation of trafficking and did not disclose where on the water the strikes occurred. Videos shared with the Wednesday statement showed a boat in the water and explosions.
The Associated Press reported that the latest attacks brought the total number of known boat strikes to 35 and the number of people killed to at least 115 since early September, using figures announced by the Trump administration. President Donald Trump has justified the strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
Along with the strikes, the report said the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the United States. The report said the Wednesday strikes were the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.
The report also said the CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, citing two people familiar with details of the operation who requested anonymity because the matter was classified. The report said Southern Command’s emphasis on involving the Coast Guard was notable in light of earlier scrutiny of U.S. actions after an attack in early September.
In that earlier incident, the U.S. military drew heavy scrutiny after U.S. forces killed survivors of an attack with a follow-up strike to their disabled boat. The report said some Democratic lawmakers and legal experts said the military committed a crime, while the Trump administration and some Republican lawmakers said the follow-up strike was legal.