On Saturday (local time), US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth justified military strikes on drug cartel-linked boats in the Caribbean Sea, saying President Donald Trump has the ability to safeguard the country ‘how he sees appropriate’. Hegseth said this when speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of War, stated
The US Secretary of War also drew analogies between drug cartels and al-Qaeda terrorists, justifying the strikes in order to preserve American lives.
“If you serve for a designated terrorist organization and bring narcotics into our country by boat, we will find and sink you. Let there be no doubt about it,” Hegseth said. “President Trump can and will take decisive military action if necessary to safeguard our country’s interests. Let no nation on the earth doubt this for a moment.”
US campaign against drug cartels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific
Hegseth’s comments come as the Trump administration faces criticism for targeting boats purportedly tied to drug gangs in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific. Critics of the Trump administration claim that such assaults may constitute a war crime. So far, about 80 people have participated in similar strikes.
On December 5, the United States Southern Command attacked another such boat in the eastern Pacific, killing at least four passengers. This was the 22nd strike carried out by the US military in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. An X post stated that the strike was carried out in accordance with Hegseth’s instructions.
“Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization,” according to a statement from the US military. “Intelligence revealed that the vessel was carrying illegal narcotics and was traveling along a recognized narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific. Four male narco-terrorists on the yacht were slain.”
