United States Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth reported that the country’s Southern Command carried out a second lethal attack on a vessel in the Pacific Ocean and compared the alleged drug traffickers to the terrorist group Al Qaeda.
“These attacks will continue, day after day”, declared the secretary of Donald Trump’s government on his account on the Truth Social network. Hegseth added that these are not “simple drug traffickers”, but rather “Al Qaeda” from “our hemisphere” and that “they will not escape justice.”
The American secretary stated that the attack was authorized by President Trump and that the destroyed vessel had been identified by intelligence for its participation in illicit smuggling.
During the attack, the second announced in less than 24 hours in international waters in the Pacific off the coast of Colombia, three crew members were killed, according to Hegseth.
This would be the ninth known attack by American forces on the so-called “narcolanchas” and the second in the Pacific, since the Pentagon began an anti-drug operation in the Caribbean Sea – mostly near the coast of Venezuela -, where it sank at least seven vessels that it claims were linked to drug trafficking.
In this context, Trump ordered this Wednesday to cut off all economic aid from the United States to Colombia and called the president of the South American country, Gustavo Petro, a “thug” and “a bad guy” who “produces a lot of drugs.”
The Colombian president responded to X, saying he would sue the Trump government in American justice.
