The U.S. military said on Monday that it had struck another boat in the Caribbean Sea, killing two men as part of a campaign against people the Trump administration accuses of smuggling drugs by sea.
The strike was ordered by Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the head of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees operations in Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean, the command said in a statement.
The two deaths raised the overall toll to at least 187 in the U.S. campaign against boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. There have been more than 50 strikes since the campaign began in September.
The command released video showing a projectile flying toward a boat at sea. Citing unspecified intelligence, officials said the vessel was engaged in drug trafficking along known smuggling routes and that the strike killed “two male narco-terrorists.”
Experts in the use of lethal force have argued that the strikes are illegal because the military is not permitted to target civilians who do not pose an imminent threat of violence, even if they are suspected of engaging in crimes. The Trump administration has not provided evidence of drug smuggling.
The White House has said that the killings are lawful. The Trump administration said in a notice to Congress that President Trump had “determined” that the United States is in a formal armed conflict with drug cartels and that crews of drug-running boats are “combatants.”
John Yoon is a Times reporter based in Seoul who covers breaking and trending news.
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