Overview
- U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Southern Spear hit a boat in the eastern Pacific on Wednesday, killing three in the fifth attack in five days.
- The campaign’s public toll now stands at least 177 dead and more than 50 vessels destroyed, with April’s pace higher than March.
- SOUTHCOM said intelligence showed the vessel was run by designated terrorist groups on known smuggling routes and it released a short video of the strike.
- The White House says the U.S. is in an armed conflict with cartels and treats boat crews as unlawful combatants to permit lethal force without court review.
- Human rights groups and some lawmakers call the killings extrajudicial and note Coast Guard searches for survivors have been suspended in several cases.