A second “drug boat” was attacked in the Pacific Ocean, revealed Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of Defense, who stated that three people died as a result of the action. Colombia rejected these operations by the United States.
Los Angeles/Mexico City, October 23 (LaOpinión/SinEmbargo).- The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegsethannounced yesterday that the United States (EU) Southern Command carried out another “lethal kinetic attack” against a vessel in the Eastern Pacificeliminating the three crew members and compared the alleged drug traffickers with the terrorist group Al Qaeda.
“These attacks will continue, day after day,” he said. Hegseth in your official account Truth Social and added that these are not “simple drug traffickers,” but rather the “Al Qaeda” of “our hemisphere and they will not escape justice.”
The Secretary said that the attack was authorized by President Donald Trump and that the destroyed ship had been identified by intelligence for its alleged “involvement in illicit smuggling.”
Previously, Hegseth announced the first attack against an alleged “drug boat” in the Pacific, in what seemed to mark an expansion of the US military campaign, since previous bombings targeted vessels in the Caribbean.
Thus, this attack is the ninth known attack by the US armed forces against an alleged drug smuggling vessel since the beginning of September.
Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out yet another lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO). Yet again, the now-deceased terrorists were engaged in narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.
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— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 23, 2025
In the context of this new attack, Trump ordered on Wednesday to cut all economic aid and subsidies to Colombia, and described the leader of Bogotá, Gustavo Petro, as “a thug.” “He is a bad guy who produces a lot of drugs,” he said.
The president announced that his Administration is considering carrying out attacks aimed at targets on land, without specifying the territory, because in his opinion the drugs are now arriving by land and said that he will inform Congress if they carry out this type of operations.
Human rights organizations have questioned the disproportionate nature of these actions, considering them summary executions that violate international law.
The concern is based on antecedents such as the attack on October 16, in which there were two deaths and two survivors, one of them was released by the Ecuadorian justice system after finding no evidence of his links to drug trafficking.
In this context, more than 60 NGOs sent a letter to the United States Congress to ask it to stop the military escalation of the Donald Trump Administration in the Caribbean and to express their “concern about the repeated extrajudicial executions of unidentified civilians.”
A situation that the UN itself supported, ensuring that “international law does not allow governments to directly assassinate alleged drug traffickers,” stressing that the alleged criminal activities they carried out should have been investigated and prosecuted in accordance with the Law.
Colombia condemns destruction of “narco-boat”
After the first attack carried out by the United States in the Pacific against a “narco-boat”, the Government of Colombia, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, condemned the destruction of said vessel.
Through a brief statement, the Colombian Foreign Ministry criticized this action and called on the US Government to cease its attacks and urged it “to respect the norms dictated by international law.”
“The national government reiterates its call to the United States Government to dialogue, through diplomatic channels, to clarify these types of situations and to adopt comprehensive and effective strategies to jointly continue the fight against drugs in the region, just as we have been doing for decades,” the Ministry indicated.
Colombia rejects destruction of ship in the Pacific Ocean by the United States
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— Colombian Foreign Ministry (@CancilleriaCol) October 23, 2025
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