US strikes alleged drug boat off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, killing 2

Body

A U.S. strike on a boat suspected of transporting illegal drugs along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast left at least two people dead and one seriously injured, Costa Rican authorities said Friday. The incident was reported by U.S. Southern Command, which said the attack was the latest in a sequence of U.S. strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Pacific and Caribbean.

Steven Umaña, regional operations coordinator for the Costa Rican Red Cross, said he received the alert from the Coast Guard at 8:15 a.m. Friday. He said emergency crews found one person with severe burns and significant chest trauma, and that the person was transported in critical condition to the Golfito Hospital.

Umaña said two other people were found with no vital signs when rescuers arrived. It was not immediately clear how many people had been aboard the struck boat.

Costa Rica’s National Coast Guard Operations Center said it received an alert about a shipwreck and dispatched a vessel 126 nautical miles from Golfito, on the country’s southern Pacific coast, to respond. The response operation proceeded after the U.S. strike, with Costa Rica coordinating medical care and recovery at sea.

The Judicial Investigation Agency confirmed it received the bodies from the Coast Guard process. It said the bodies were handed over by a U.S. Navy force at sea to Costa Rica’s Coast Guard Service and, once at port, were delivered to judicial authorities.

U.S. Southern Command said on its account that the Thursday action involved a “lethal kinetic strike” on a boat it said was operated by a criminal group designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. In that account, U.S. officials said intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting known drug trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific and was involved in drug trafficking operations.

Such strikes have drawn sharp criticism from governments in the region, including as the Trump administration has taken a more aggressive approach toward Latin America and the Caribbean. The criticism has included concerns about the use of military force and the broader effects of operations aimed at stopping drug trafficking by sea.

Even as Costa Rica handled the emergency response and the follow-up investigation, investigators still faced key unanswered questions about the incident. Authorities said it was unclear how many people were aboard the boat at the time of the strike, leaving room for further developments as Costa Rica’s judicial process continues.