The U.S. military said it attacked a boat suspected of being used to smuggle drugs in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday (October 4, 2026), killing four people, as the Trump administration continues its yearlong campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America.

The latest attack brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 235 in 70 strikes since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in September 2025.

As with most of the military’s statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes.

The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. A video posted on X showed what appeared to be an explosion destroying a moving boat, which the military said was a go-fast vessel.

The Trump administration is pursuing deals with allied nations to extend its offensive to land across multiple Latin American countries. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Panama in August that Colombia, Guatemala, and Honduras had agreed to allow the U.S. to carry out joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil. Guatemala denied reaching such a deal. Ecuador launched similar missions with the U.S. in March.

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing smugglers.

The U.S. Southern Command said on Monday (December 15, 2025) that it carried out strikes on three vessels in international waters, killing eight men.

“Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking,” the military said in a post on X.

The United States struck more than 20 vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela as part of a military campaign President Donald Trump has launched on drug smuggling from the region.

At least 90 suspected drug smugglers have been killed in the process.

The use of the military to attack suspected drug vessels marks a stark departure from how the U.S. has historically dealt with them.

The Trump administration has sought to defend the legality of the strikes, which some legal experts have said amount to unlawful extrajudicial killings.

“Our operations in the Southcom region are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the Law of Armed Conflict,” Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told reporters earlier this month.

The strikes are viewed as the precursor to U.S. land strikes on Venezuela that Mr. Trump has said will soon start.