The United States attacks again in waters near Latin America. At least two people died after the forces of the country led by Donald Trump attacked a ship that was supposedly transporting drugs, in the eastern Pacific, near Colombia. As in previous assaults in the region, Washington has shown no evidence of the accusations.

First modification: 02/06/2026 - 16:23 Last modification: 02/06/2026 - 16:25

New lethal attack by the United States within the framework of its so-called 'Spear of the South' operation.

On this occasion, the Southern Command indicated that its troops launched an attack against an alleged drug boat in international waters of the eastern Pacific, near Colombia.

At least two people died. Washington assured that it was a ship operated by “Designated Terrorist Organizations,” although it has not shown evidence that the people transported on the ship transported drugs as it claims. A dynamic that has been repeated since it began its naval deployment in the Caribbean in August 2025 – later extended to the eastern Pacific – and that since September began attacks in which it left more than 100 people dead.

"On February 5, under the direction of Southern Command Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic attack against a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was transiting known drug trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in drug trafficking operations. Two narcoterrorists were killed during this action. No members of the U.S. military were injured," the U.S. military said. Southern Command in a message broadcast on its X platform account.

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This attack was announced just after last Wednesday, February 4, the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, met at the White House with President Donald Trump after months of disagreements and rhetorical exchanges, given what Washington considers a lack of collaboration in the fight against drug trafficking.

Bogotá has denied these accusations. "If there is a country that fights effectively against drugs, it is Colombia," said the director of Substitution of Crops for Illicit Use, Gloria Miranda on the eve of that meeting.

Drug trafficking was a central topic of the conversation between Trump and Petro. Although few details have been released publicly, the Colombian president indicated that he did not address the issue of fumigation of illicit crops with his American counterpart.

Also read 'Lance of the South': what we know about the US operation that escalates military tension in the Caribbean

Massacres at sea, faced with a questioned legal framework

The new attack brings to at least 128 the number of people killed in those operations that the United States has justified as part of an “armed conflict” with drug trafficking groups, but that legal experts and human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch have described as “extrajudicial executions.”

The frequency of these attacks in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific has decreased since last January, when the US launched attacks against several cities in Venezuela, which ended with the capture of then-president Nicolás Maduro. The president, later transferred to New York on charges of alleged drug trafficking, was for months the target of most of the threats from Donald Trump's Administration while increasing his operations in waters near Latin America.

However, these types of assaults have not ended.

Last week, the US Army reported that the death toll from that offensive increased to 126 people, including those presumed to have died after being lost at sea.

The toll included 116 people who were killed immediately in at least 36 attacks since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, the US Southern Command reported. Ten more people are believed to have died because investigators did not locate them after an attack.

Under the figure of “armed conflict” against drug trafficking, the Trump Government has justified the operations it launched without approval from Congress, which has not stopped these actions, despite scrutiny. The president has the majority of his Republican Party caucus in both chambers, which has allowed him to operate without major obstacles.

But his actions continue to be questioned inside and outside the country.

"There is no armed conflict between the United States and Venezuela, or between the United States and Colombia, or between the United States and these common criminal groups. What there is is an organized crime phenomenon that must be confronted with law enforcement officials, who investigate, prosecute and sanction drug trafficking networks, but do not summarily execute suspects on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific," Juanita Goebertus, director for the Americas of Human Rights Watch, highlighted last October.

The Trump Administration has provided few details and no evidence, at least publicly, to support its accusations. Even if these were vessels transporting drugs, the questions are multiple: why the US Army is carrying out the attacks, instead of the Coast Guard, the main maritime law enforcement agency of the United States, but, above all, why it is not carrying out other measures, such as detaining the occupants instead of killing them.

Meanwhile, the families of two Trinidadian citizens who died in one of those attacks last October sued the Trump administration last week, calling the assault a "war crime" and part of an "unprecedented and patently illegal US military campaign."

It is the first known case of manslaughter arising from the 'Southern Spear' offensive that will test in court the legal justification for the attacks, which many experts believe constitute a flagrant violation of the laws of armed conflict and international law.

Read alsoThe UN accuses the US of “extrajudicial executions” for attacks in the Caribbean and Pacific

With AP and EFE

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