US vows to continue anti-drug boat strikes

The United States ​government is not yielding despite outrage over the strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats on international waters, particularly within South America.

Speaking on Thursday at the White House, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared that the Pentagon would continue to hit mules attempting to smuggle drugs into the U.S.​
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Hegseth said the designation of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations allows the government to legally target them in the same way as traditional terrorist organizations in the Middle East.

Stating that the cartels intimidate, terrorize, and poison the American people, he said every boat struck represents 25,000 citizens “whose lives are saved” by proactive measures.

The Secretary insists America will treat narcoterrorists “like we have treated al-Qaeda,” adding: “We will find you, we will map your networks, we will hunt you down, and we will kill you.”

The U.S. faces accusations of extrajudicial killings as critics, including Colombian President Gustavo Petro, say the strikes are without transparency, and that those killed were criminal suspects, not enemy forces.

But Secretary of State Marco Rubio doubled down on Thursday during a chat with the reporters, echoing the Department of War’s description of narco-terrorists as “the Al-Qaida of the Western Hemisphere.”

“These are well-funded, violent drug cartels that operate as terrorists who are flooding our country with drugs,” he noted. “The U.S. is going to deal with it; the President has made a decision to deal with it.”

Rubio said the alleged drug boats pass through the Caribbean with the help of “the illegitimate government of Venezuela – the Cartel de los Soles, run by Nicolas Maduro – and they also operate in the Pacific.”

Meanwhile, Admiral Alvin Holsey, head of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees operations in the Caribbean Sea and waters off South America, has announced he will retire in December.

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