The U.S. military announced on Friday that it conducted another fatal strike on a vessel suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea.

According to U.S. Southern Command, the boat was traveling along recognized drug-smuggling routes and was actively involved in narcotics operations. The strike reportedly resulted in three deaths. Footage shared alongside the announcement shows the vessel moving across the water before erupting into flames.

Rules-based global order collapsing, Europe must prepare for sacrifice: Germany’s Merz

This latest operation brings the total number of fatalities linked to the Trump administration’s actions against suspected drug boats to 133, across at least 38 strikes carried out since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that several high-ranking cartel traffickers in the region had chosen to halt their drug activities indefinitely following what he described as highly effective military strikes in the Caribbean. However, he did not provide supporting evidence for this assertion, which he made on his personal social media account.

President Donald Trump has characterized the situation as an “armed conflict” with Latin American cartels and defended the strikes as a necessary measure to curb drug trafficking. Nonetheless, the administration has provided limited evidence to substantiate its claims that those killed were “narcoterrorists.”