Once more, the United States Southern Command (USSC) is proving the truth of that old military proverb: There is no problem which cannot be resolved with the suitable application of high explosives. The latest problem to be so resolved involved yet another alleged drug boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean. That drug boat is now reduced to spare parts, and the boat's crew of three is now inspecting their new quarters in Davey Jones' locker.
U.S. Southern Command wasted no time taking to their official X account to count coup.
On May 29, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking… pic.twitter.com/ynibuPqDd3
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) May 30, 2026
The video included shows very plainly the fiery results of that "lethal kinetic strike," which is professional military talk to "blown the (insert epithet) up."
Read More: Watch As Drug Boat Detonations Continue: Three New Strikes Put Drugs on the Ocean Floor
This is just the latest in a long line of would-be drug smugglers who are now fattening fish.
While the military's social media announcements always include video of the attacks, this appears to be the first with the footage in color instead of black and white. The video shows a small vessel floating in the ocean before it's hit and engulfed in a fireball. It cuts to what could be the boat in flames, surrounded by a large plume of parcels or some other objects spread around it in the water.
The attack puts the death toll at 202 people from the series of U.S. strikes that began in early September, with two other attacks announced Tuesday and Wednesday. The Trump administration has declared that the U.S. is in an armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, saying they are behind the flow of drugs into American communities.
U.S. Southern Command said in its post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S. commander in Latin America, who on Friday also met with Cuban military leaders near the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay.
To that, we can only say, "Good shooting, and keep it up!"
While we rightly celebrate every drug boat detonated and every cartel smuggler reduced to ambient temperature, there's the concern that some of these boat crews may well have faced an unpleasant choice: Make the attempt, or you and your family will be executed. That wouldn't be beneath the cartels, and it's curious that they still keep sending these boats and crews out to try to bring their illegal cargoes into the United States. And yet they keep coming, and USSC keeps blowing them out of the water.
It's a necessary task. If the cartels are to be tamped down, they have to be hit everywhere, and these boats are, really, low-hanging targets.
Oh, and if you're planning a fishing outing in this part of the eastern Pacific, I recommend making it a catch-and-release thing, instead of keeping any of the catch for the freezer. There's no telling what those fish may have been eating.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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