The US military attacked a ship accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific, causing the death of one man and leaving two survivors, within the framework of the campaign that the Trump administration is carrying out against alleged drug traffickers in Latin America.

This latest attack brings to at least 208 the number of people who have died in attacks on boats by the US military since it began targeting what it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.

As in most of the military's statements about attacks in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea, the US Southern Command said it was targeting suspected drug traffickers along known smuggling routes.

The military provided no evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs. A video posted on X showed a boat sailing before it was hit by the attack and burst into flames.

Southern Command stated that it “immediately notified the United States Coast Guard to activate the search and rescue system for survivors.”

President Trump has declared that the United States is in “armed conflict” with Latin American cartels and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and the fatal overdoses that claim American lives.

However, his administration has presented little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”