The Donald Trump administration has insisted their actions are lawful and in compliance with the Law of Armed Conflict, with justification centred around "the United States' inherent right of self-defence as a matter of international law." The occupants targeted in the operation have been designated as "narco-terrorists" or members of "designated terrorist organizations," as a justification for blowing them out of the water-except, to date, no evidence or intelligence to back up those claims has been presented by the US to the public.
The US military on Thursday said it killed two people in a strike on a boat suspected of carrying illegal drugs in the eastern Pacific. "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," the US Southern Command posted on X. It added that "no US military forces were harmed" in the operation. The statement did not offer any evidence that the boat pictured was actually carrying narcotics before it was blown up in the attack.
A call between Donald Trump and Nicolas Maduro? The prospect is on the table, despite the heightened tensions between the United States and Venezuela. The Republican has informed his team of his plans to speak directly with the Venezuelan leader, according to the news website Axios. The report came on the same day that Washington officially designated Maduro as the head of a foreign terrorist organization, amid escalating tensions in the Caribbean.
During his tenure as secretary of defense, Hegseth has been unnaturally obsessed with building an anti-gay (and anti- women and anti-people-of-color) army. After he was nominated for the position in December, he said allowing gay troops to serve reflects a "Marxist agenda." In June, he ordered the U.S. Navy to remove a boat's title because it was named after Harvey Milk. And in October, the Pentagon criticized Netflix's Boots as "woke garbage."
United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has formally announced the launch of a US military operation to target so-called narco-terrorists as Washington's large-scale build-up of troops, warships and fighter jets continues in Latin America. Today, I'm announcing Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR. Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and @SOUTHCOM, this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people, Hegseth said in a post on X.
