U.S. forces attacked drug-smuggling vessel, three killed, says Hegseth

U.S. forces attacked a vessel related to a Colombian leftist insurgent group, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned on Sunday (October 19, 2025), the identical day President Donald Trump known as Colombian President Gustavo Petro an “unlawful drug chief” and mentioned funds to the South American nation would stop.

Mr. Hegseth wrote on X that the Pentagon had destroyed a vessel and killed three individuals on Friday (October 17) “within the USSOUTHCOM space of accountability,” which incorporates the Caribbean.

He mentioned the ship was affiliated with the leftist insurgent group National Liberation Army and was concerned in illicit narcotics smuggling, with out providing proof to again the declare.

It was the most recent in a sequence of U.S. strikes within the Caribbean on vessels that the Trump administration says have been transporting medication.

The Pentagon mentioned it had nothing so as to add past Mr. Hegseth’s preliminary publish.

The Colombian embassy in Washington, D.C., didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The publish from Mr. Hegseth got here hours after Mr. Trump accused Mr. Petro on social media of “strongly encouraging the huge manufacturing of medication”. “The United States will cease large-scale funds and subsidies to Colombia,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“The goal of this drug manufacturing is the sale of large quantities of product into the United States, inflicting dying, destruction, and havoc,” Mr. Trump wrote. Reuters couldn’t instantly set up which funds Mr. Trump was referring to. Colombia was as soon as among the many largest recipients of U.S. assist within the Western Hemisphere, however the circulate of cash was all of the sudden curtailed this yr by the shuttering of USAID, the U.S. authorities’s humanitarian help arm.

The U.S. State Department referred inquiries to the White House, which didn’t instantly reply to a question. Relations between Bogota and Washington have frayed since Mr. Trump returned to workplace in January. Last month the United States revoked Mr. Petro’s visa after he joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York and urged U.S. troopers to disobey Mr. Trump’s orders.

The U.S. administration’s lethal strikes on boats within the Caribbean have additionally outraged Colombians. Many authorized specialists and human rights activists have condemned the extraordinary sequence of navy actions, with Amnesty International describing it as homicide on the excessive seas.

Earlier this month, Mr. Petro mentioned one of many strikes hit a Colombian vessel, an allegation the Trump administration denied.

Colombia is combating its personal longstanding drug issues. Last yr, Mr. Petro pledged to tame coca-growing areas within the nation with large social and navy intervention, however the technique has introduced little success.

In September, Mr. Trump designated international locations reminiscent of Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia and Venezuela amongst these the United States believes to have “failed demonstrably” in upholding counternarcotics agreements in the course of the previous yr.