Families Say 8 Mexicans Murdered by US Airstrikes in the Pacific
This article originally appeared in the February 22, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.
Eight Mexicans, seven of them from the town of Cruz de Huanacaxtle, municipality of Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit, and another from the community of Corrales, in Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco, were among the fatalities of two of the attacks on boats perpetrated by the United States on February 16, locals from the first town said yesterday, although federal authorities have not confirmed that information.
Family members stated this Saturday that they were notified of the incident by personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an agency that was consulted on the matter by La Jornada; but as of press time, it had neither confirmed nor denied the information.
The seven deceased from Cruz de Huanacaxtle were identified by locals, who demonstrated yesterday, as Édgar Hermelindo, Diego, Pedro Adrián, Luis Carlos, Carlos, Abel and José Francisco; all “very young” and widely known, they said.
Locals said the young boatmen were carrying gasoline “and supplying you-know-who.” One of them promised this was his “last trip, and it really was,” they lamented.
On February 16, the United States Southern Command reported that “Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out three lethal strikes against three vessels operated by designated terrorist organizations,” but without offering evidence for its claims.
The US Southern Command stated that “11 drug traffickers died during these actions, four on the first boat in the eastern Pacific, four on the second boat in the eastern Pacific and three on the third boat in the Caribbean”; the coordinates were not specified.
According to the relatives, the Mexicans would have lost their lives in the first two boats.
They recounted that a mass was held this week in the church of this place in honor of the deceased and then a farewell ceremony aboard boats in which relatives and friends traveled, with photos of them.
A large number of Americans reside in Cruz de Huanacaxtle. On February 19, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it had sanctioned a timeshare fraud ring led by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which operates in the Bahía de Banderas area.
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