Overview
- Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the operation on X and posted videos purporting to show the strikes.
- U.S. forces carried out three strikes against four vessels in the Eastern Pacific on Monday, leaving 14 dead and one survivor.
- U.S. Southern Command activated search-and-rescue protocols, and Mexican authorities took charge of coordinating the rescue, with Mexico’s navy citing an operation over 400 nautical miles southwest of Acapulco.
- Hegseth said the boats were used by organizations the United States designates as terrorist and asserted intelligence showed they were on known trafficking routes carrying narcotics.
- The action forms part of a campaign since early September that has destroyed 14 boats and killed at least 57 people, drawing legal scrutiny, prompting objections from Mexico’s president, and coinciding with a U.S. military buildup and rising regional tensions including with Venezuela.