Overview
- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said two strikes in the eastern Pacific on Nov. 9–10 killed six people at President Trump’s direction, targeting boats the U.S. asserts were run by designated terrorist organizations.
- The Pentagon posted video of the attacks but has not presented independent evidence the vessels were trafficking drugs, drawing demands for proof from lawmakers, experts, and relatives of the dead.
- Since September, reported totals have reached about 75–76 people killed and roughly twenty small vessels destroyed as the maritime campaign expands from the Caribbean into the eastern Pacific.
- The Navy said the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford entered U.S. Southern Command’s area on Nov. 11 to bolster regional operations with thousands of personnel and dozens of aircraft.
- Regional fallout escalated as the U.N. human rights office called for an independent probe, Venezuela heightened military alert levels, and Colombia’s president ordered a suspension of intelligence exchanges with U.S. agencies.