Secretary of War Pete Hegseth released video Sunday of a U.S. military strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat at sea.
The American military under President Donald Trump conducted multiple strikes against vessels believed to be engaged in running drugs since Sept. 2, when a boat carrying 11 members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) was sunk. Hegseth said the latest strike took place Friday and targeted the National Liberation Army, also known as Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a Colombian terrorist group.
“On October 17th, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, that was operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Hegseth stated in a Sunday X post which included a video of the takedown. “The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics.”
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“There were three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike—which was conducted in international waters,” Hegseth continued. “All three terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike. These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people.”
ELN was designated as a foreign terrorist organization in October 1997 by the Clinton administration and operates in Colombia. The Justice Department accused members of the group of being involved in drug trafficking in a September 2020 release.
The strikes have been criticized by Democrats, as well as Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who attempted to block the strikes, but lost an Oct. 8 Senate vote.
“The United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are—they will be hunted, and killed, just like Al Qaeda,” Hegseth added.
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