Shadow war: US military kills another five in Pacific ‘narco’ strikes

The US military has killed another 5 people in its targeted strikes against so-called ‘narco-terrorists’ in the seas off Latin America. The American dirty war has now claimed over 160 lives since it began in September 2025. The latest victims died in two separate strikes in the eastern Pacific.

The US bombed Caracas, Venezuela, and kidnapped the country’s president on 3 Jan 2026. The attack came after months of military build-up in the region. The US-Israeli attack on Iran has absorbed legacy media focus since – but strikes in the Americas have continued.

Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) is the US military mission in the region. SOUTHCOM confirmed the strikes on 13 April 2026:

Applying total systemic friction on the cartels.

On April 11, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted two lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence… pic.twitter.com/sRXTFYCWXu

— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) April 12, 2026

SOUTHCOM said:

Two male narco-terrorists were killed, and one narco-terrorist survived the first strike. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during the second strike. Following the engagements, USSOUTHCOM immediately notified U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor. No U.S. military forces were harmed.

The US allegedly killing survivors of a drone strike in the Caribbean on 2 September. Defence secretary Pete Hegseth was accused of giving the orders. The legal NGO Just Security said:

if the media reporting is accurate, this military operation is a “dishonorable strike” that is illegal under international law and the laws of war. This sentiment and logic was echoed by former U.S. military lawyers. The illegal order also runs contrary to longstanding U.S. military doctrine and U.S. Navy Regulations governing the treatment of survivors at sea.

Just Security’s contributors written extensively about the legalities of this new ‘war on drugs’. US operations have recently been expanded onto land and given a chilling new name…

Total Extermination

Operation Total Extermination has already carried out an attack in Ecuador which destroyed farm buildings and reportedly saw workers tortured by US-backed troops.

The American commander for operations in the SOUTHCOM region, General Francis Donovan, said the strikes were only a small part of what the US had planned:

What we’re moving for right now might be an extension of Southern Spear, but really a counter-cartel campaign process that puts total systemic friction across this network. I believe these kinetic [boat] strikes are just one small part of that.

Security forces allegedly detained and beat workers from the dairy farm on 3 March. The workers told the press:

Ecuadorean soldiers arrived by helicopter on March 3, doused several shelters and sheds with gasoline and ignited them after interrogating workers and beating four of them with the butts of their guns.

Three of the workers, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation by the government, said the soldiers later choked and subjected them to electrical shocks before letting them go.

Ecuador’s right-wing president Daniel Noboa, a Trump ally:

has pushed through ‘urgent’ neoliberal reforms, cutting public spending while clamping down on civil liberties, workers’ rights, and indigenous environmental activism against mining and fossil fuel extraction.

The UK and Ecuador are working together on ‘counter-cartel’ operations. Media focus is on Iran. But Trump’s war against what he claims are cartel smugglers is still underway. Trump still wants hemispheric control. And, as well as Ecuador and Venezuela, the US has long-standing ambitions for Mexico and Cuba.

Featured image via X