Since early September 2025, American armed forces have conducted a lethal air campaign against suspected narcotics-trafficking vessels in Caribbean and Pacific waters, killing approximately 83 people across 21 strikes as of mid-November. Operation Southern Spear marks a dramatic departure from traditional Coast Guard interdiction methods, deploying drone missiles and gunship fire against boats identified as “narco-terrorist” targets rather than pursuing arrests and prosecutions. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly unveiled the initiative on November 13, after 20 strikes had already occurred—representing the first acknowledged U.S. airstrike in Central or South America since the 1989 Panama invasion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Military Assets and Financial Investment
The operation deploys sophisticated hardware including MQ-9 Reaper drones firing AGM-114 Hellfire missiles costing $70,000 to $213,000 per unit, and AC-130J gunships equipped with 105mm howitzers running approximately $46,000 per flight hour. Aircraft operate from Puerto Rico’s Roosevelt Roads naval base, reopened specifically for this campaign, and El Salvador’s Comalapa airbase. Conservative estimates place total expenditures at $21 to $30 million through November, though precise Pentagon budget allocations remain classified and the administration has not provided comprehensive cost disclosures to Congress. The first strike on September 1-2 off Trinidad and Tobago killed 11 people—the highest single-operation casualty count. CNN reported that sources familiar with the situation described a second strike targeting survivors in the water, though Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell denied allegations that Hegseth ordered personnel to “kill everybody,” calling such claims “completely false.”
Legal Framework Transformation
Operation Southern Spear operates under Foreign Terrorist Organization designations that reframe drug organizations as military adversaries rather than criminal suspects. In February 2025, the State Department classified six Mexican cartels as FTOs, including Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación. Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles received the same designation on November 24. Trump formally notified Congress on October 1 that the United States had entered a “non-international armed conflict” with “unlawful combatants” regarding drug cartels. This FTO classification converts the legal paradigm from law enforcement—requiring probable cause, arrests, and trials—to armed conflict permitting lethal force without judicial process under Law of Armed Conflict standards.
Evidence Gap and International Condemnation
Across 21 strikes destroying 22 vessels, the Pentagon has publicized zero seized cocaine, zero recovered cargo, and no official crew identifications confirming cartel membership. This contrasts sharply with U.S. Coast Guard achievements: Fiscal Year 2025 saw approximately 510,000 pounds of cocaine seized—the service’s largest amount in history. Only one Operation Southern Spear seizure has been reported: a September 19 joint operation with the Dominican Republic recovered 1,000 kilograms from a struck vessel. Congressional briefings revealed administration officials acknowledged they “do not always know the identities of those aboard a vessel prior to launching an attack.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk declared on October 31 that the strikes violate international human rights law, stating through spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani that “intentional use of lethal force is only permissible as a last resort against individuals who pose an imminent threat to life.” UN human rights experts characterized lethal force without proper legal basis as “extrajudicial executions” on October 21. The UK reportedly ceased intelligence sharing regarding suspected drug vessels because it believes U.S. strikes violate international law, according to CNN.
The Guardian reported on November 6 that governments and families identified many deceased as civilians—primarily fishermen. Associated Press journalist Regina Garcia Cano visited Venezuela’s Sucre state immediately after the first strike, finding “the dead men had indeed been running drugs but were not narco-terrorists…or leaders of a cartel or gang” and “included a fisherman, a motorcycle taxi driver, laborers and two low-level career criminals,” according to the New York Times.
Strategic Impact and Future Implications
Despite substantial financial and human costs—approximately $21 to $30 million spent and 83 lives taken—measurable strategic impact remains absent from public record. The Pentagon cannot publicly identify a single cartel operation disrupted, leadership arrested, or trafficking route abandoned attributable to Operation Southern Spear. U.S. fentanyl deaths—approximately 73,000 in 2024—originate overwhelmingly from Mexican cartels trafficking through the U.S.-Mexico land border, not Caribbean sea routes targeted by this campaign.
The Senate rejected two War Powers Resolutions attempting to limit Trump’s authority, with votes failing 51-48 on October 8 and 51-49 on November 6. The Justice Department argued that 60-day War Powers Resolution limits don’t apply because unmanned drones don’t endanger U.S. forces—an interpretation legal scholars question constitutionally. Senator Tim Kaine reviewed classified authorization documents and stated publicly that “even the administration may recognize no legal rationale exists absent congressional authorization.”
UN High Commissioner Türk emphasized that “none of the individuals on the targeted boats appeared to pose an imminent threat to the lives of others or otherwise justified the use of lethal armed force against them under international law.” Americans confronting approximately 73,000 annual fentanyl deaths deserve evidence that their government’s Caribbean campaign actually disrupts responsible cartels—evidence Operation Southern Spear has not publicly provided, since destroyed vessels yield no prosecutable intelligence, reveal no cartel hierarchies, and don’t prevent future trafficking operations.
Sources:
Wikipedia – 2025 United States military strikes on alleged drug traffickers
CNN – US military carried out second strike killing survivors on a suspected drug boat
The Conversation – We’ve tracked the US military build-up in the Caribbean
CNN – Here’s what the US military is using to strike alleged drug boats:
US Coast Guard – Coast Guard sets historic record with amount of cocaine seized in FY25:
Military.com – Major Drug Busts: US Coast Guard Seizes Record Amount
Maritime Executive – US Coast Guard Reports Best Year Ever for Cocaine Interdiction
The Defense Post – Ultimate Guide on AGM-114 Hellfire Missiles