President Donald Trump announced Friday he ordered a Trump cartel strike on a vessel linked to a terrorist group trafficking narcotics in the U.S. Southern Command’s area of responsibility, killing three.
Details of the Lethal Strike
“On my Orders, the Secretary of War ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Trump stated in an announcement on Truth Social.
Intelligence confirmed the vessel was on a known trafficking route to “poison Americans,” the president added. The strike killed three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel, which was operating in international waters.
No U.S. forces were harmed during the operation. Trump concluded his announcement with a direct warning, stating, “STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA, AND COMMITTING VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICANS!!!“
Recent Trump Cartel Strike Actions
This operation followed another recent military action announced days earlier. On Monday, Trump revealed that U.S. forces had conducted a second strike against “extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists” in the USSOUTHCOM area.
Earlier this month, a separate U.S. military strike destroyed a Venezuelan drug boat in the southern Caribbean. That engagement left nearly a dozen suspected narco-terrorists from the Tren de Aragua group dead.
Policy on Cartels Designated as Terrorist Organizations
These aggressive US Southern Command counter-narcotics actions follow a significant policy shift from the administration. In February, the Trump administration designated certain drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Groups including the Sinaloa Cartel and Venezuelan cartels Tren de Aragua were among those placed on the list. The administration is continuing its crackdown on these designated organizations.
