US Again Attacks Alleged Traffickers in Eastern Pacific

ByMexico Solidarity

This article originally appeared in the October 29, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper. [Editor’s note: this latest attack occurred the day after Mexico’s Foreign Affairs minister met with US Ambassador Ronald Johnson to request that the US coordinate with the Mexican Navy to arrest, and not attack, suspected drug traffickers in international waters, a meeting that was, according to a Mexican Foreign Ministry statement, “a cordial exchange,” where “the parties agreed that the main priority is safeguarding human life at sea and fully respecting national sovereignty, reaffirming their commitment to the understanding and cooperation that have historically defined relations between both nations.”]

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that, on orders from President Donald Trump, the War Department carried out a “lethal kinetic strike” against a vessel allegedly linked to drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.

In a message posted on his official account, X. Hegseth detailed that the vessel, identified by intelligence services as part of a “Designated Terrorist Organization”, was transporting narcotics through a route known for illicit smuggling.

During the operation, carried out in international waters, the four crew members – whom the official described as “narco-terrorists” – died without any US casualties, AFP reported.

“The Western Hemisphere is no longer a safe haven for narco-terrorists who smuggle drugs onto our shores to poison Americans,” wrote Hegseth, who assured that the War Department “will continue to seek them out and eliminate them wherever they operate.”

So far, the Trump administration has not provided information on the nationality of the deceased or the precise location of the attack.