U.S. Southern Command Conducts Two More Lethal Strikes on Drug Boats
U.S. Southern Command has resumed its campaign of strikes on drug-smuggling boats on the maritime corridors off South and Central America, resulting in additional fatalities.
On Saturday, the counter-smuggling task force carried out two strikes on drug boats in the Eastern Pacific. Two suspects were killed in the first strike, leaving one survivor; three were killed in the second strike. The Coast Guard has been notified of the survivor so that it can launch a search and rescue operation.
In a statement, Southern Command said that the strikes were examples of a policy of "applying total systemic friction on the cartels."
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Since the start of enhanced operations in September, the U.S. military has conducted at least 48 airstrikes on suspected trafficking boats and killed at least 168 suspected smugglers, in parallel with traditional law enforcement interdictions completed by the Coast Guard without fatalities. The lethal strikes are believed to be forcing some of the smuggling-boat operators to change their routing, and President Donald Trump claims that the campaign is reducing total transit volume, but SOUTHCOM still wants to add additional tactics to the mix.
"Looking forward, senator — the boat strikes aren’t the answer," SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan told Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month. "What we’re moving for right now [is] a countercartel campaign process that puts total systemic friction across this network."