Overview
- U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out a Dec. 4 lethal strike in international waters of the eastern Pacific at the direction of Secretary Pete Hegseth.
- The command stated intelligence indicated the vessel carried illicit narcotics and was operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization, and it released a short video of the strike.
- The newly acknowledged strike is the 22nd reported since September, bringing total deaths in the campaign to roughly 85–87 across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
- Admiral Frank M. Bradley briefed lawmakers behind closed doors and denied receiving an order to “kill them all,” while members who viewed classified footage gave sharply different accounts of what it showed.
- Legal and diplomatic pressure is rising, including a complaint to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by the family of Colombian fisherman Alejandro Carranza Medina alleging an unlawful U.S. killing in September.