{"id":387324,"date":"2025-11-18T10:15:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T10:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/387324\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T10:15:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T10:15:17","slug":"how-many-people-has-the-u-s-killed-in-boat-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/387324\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many People Has the U.S. Killed in Boat Strikes?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since September, the Trump administration has conducted an undeclared war in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, killing scores of civilians. The Intercept is chronicling all publicly declared U.S. attacks and providing a tracker with information on each strike.<\/p>\n<p>The administration insists the attacks are permitted because the U.S. is engaged in \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/10\/02\/venezuela-boat-strike-justification\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">non-international armed conflict<\/a>\u201d with \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/10\/01\/trump-venezuela-boat-strike-designated-terror-organization\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">designated terrorist organizations<\/a>,\u201d or DTOs. President Donald Trump has justified the attacks, in a War Powers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawfaremedia.org\/article\/trump-offers-first-legal-justification-for-venezuela-boat-strike\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report <\/a>to Congress, under his Article II constitutional authority as commander in chief of the U.S. military and claimed to be acting pursuant to the United States\u2019 inherent right of self-defense as a matter of international law. The Justice Department\u2019s Office of Legal Counsel has also produced a classified opinion that provides <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/11\/14\/boat-strikes-immunity-legality-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">legal cover<\/a> for the lethal strikes.<\/p>\n<p>Experts in the laws of war and members of Congress, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/09\/10\/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">from both parties<\/a>, say the strikes are illegal extrajudicial killings because the military is not permitted to deliberately target civilians \u2014 even suspected criminals \u2014 who do not pose an imminent threat of violence. The summary executions are a significant departure from standard practice in the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/podcasts\/collateral-damage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">long-running U.S. war on drugs<\/a>, in which law enforcement agencies arrested <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/09\/26\/trump-venezuela-boat-strike-drugs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">suspected drug smugglers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Pentagon has repeatedly <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/10\/31\/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes-unprivileged-belligerants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">withheld <\/a>information on the attacks from members of Congress and the American public, despite mounting questions from lawmakers about the legality of these deadly strikes.<\/p>\n<p>So The Intercept is publishing a strike tracker documenting America\u2019s newest war. The locations and casualty figures are drawn from information provided by U.S. Southern Command, which <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/10\/23\/military-southcom-alvin-holsey-hegseth-trump-boat-strikes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">oversees <\/a>military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Office of the Secretary of War, and social media posts by Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth.<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td>\nNumber of Strikes\n<\/td>\n<td>\nTotal Killed\n<\/td>\n<td>\nTotal Captured\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>21<\/td>\n<td>83<\/td>\n<td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>November 15, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Southcom\/status\/1990147866397221102?s=20\">3<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater<\/strong>: Pacific Ocean<\/li>\n<li><strong>Target<\/strong>: Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>November 10, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Southcom\/status\/1989457355214409783?s=20\">4<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater<\/strong>: Caribbean<\/li>\n<li><strong>Target<\/strong>: \u201cNarcoterrorists\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>November 9, 2025 <\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SecWar\/status\/1987863821868732447\">6 killed in two strikes<\/a>, 3 aboard each ship.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater<\/strong>: Both in Pacific Ocean<\/li>\n<li><strong>Target<\/strong>: Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organizations <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, two lethal kinetic strikes were conducted on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.<\/p>\n<p>These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ocUoGzwwDO\">pic.twitter.com\/ocUoGzwwDO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1987863821868732447?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">November 10, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>November 6, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Death toll: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SecWar\/status\/1986631797547921741\">3<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Theater: Caribbean <\/li>\n<li>Target: Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>November 4, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1985863010376642677\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater:<\/strong> Pacific Ocean <\/li>\n<li><strong>Target: <\/strong>Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>November 1, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Death toll: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SecWar\/status\/1984816590940987802\">3<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Theater: Caribbean <\/li>\n<li>Target: Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>October 29, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Death toll: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1983676996220588093\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Theater: Pacific Ocean<\/li>\n<li>Target: Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Earlier today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on yet another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Eastern Pacific. <\/p>\n<p>This vessel, like all the others, was known by our\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mBOLA5RYQe\">pic.twitter.com\/mBOLA5RYQe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1983676996220588093?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">October 29, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>October 27, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1983164355999883548\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">14<\/a> killed in three separate strikes \u2014 with one reported survivor (eight aboard one boat, four on another and three on the last). The Mexican Navy failed to find the survivor, who is presumed to be dead, bringing the total to 15.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater:<\/strong> Pacific Ocean<\/li>\n<li><strong>Target:<\/strong> Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out three lethal kinetic strikes on four vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO) trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific.<\/p>\n<p>The four vessels were known by our intelligence\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UhoFlZ3jPG\">pic.twitter.com\/UhoFlZ3jPG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1983164355999883548?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">October 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>October 23 or 24, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1981706596972372446\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">6<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater:<\/strong> Pacific Ocean<\/li>\n<li><strong>Target: <\/strong>Tren de Aragua (Venezuela) <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>October 22, 2025 <\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1981167670989926902\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater: <\/strong>Pacific Ocean<\/li>\n<li><strong>Target: <\/strong>Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out yet another lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO). Yet again, the now-deceased terrorists were engaged in narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PEaKmakivD\">pic.twitter.com\/PEaKmakivD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1981167670989926902?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">October 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>October 21, 2025 <\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1981049943306752361\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater:<\/strong> Pacific Ocean<\/li>\n<li><strong>Target:<\/strong> Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>October 17, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1979930208472912048\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater: <\/strong>Caribbean<\/li>\n<li><strong>Target:<\/strong> Ej\u00e9rcito de Liberaci\u00f3n Nacional (Colombia) <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On October 17th, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with Ej\u00e9rcito de Liberaci\u00f3n Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, that was operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1v7oR879LC\">pic.twitter.com\/1v7oR879LC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1979930208472912048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">October 19, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>October 16, 2025 <\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/115396632441470075\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2 killed<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/10\/17\/caribbean-boat-strike-survivors-prisoners-war-navy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> 2 captured<\/a> and later repatriated to Colombia and Ecuador.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater:<\/strong> Caribbean <\/li>\n<li><strong>Target:<\/strong> \u201cNarcoterrorists\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>October 14, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/115373751811822463\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">6<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater:<\/strong> Caribbean <\/li>\n<li><strong>Target:<\/strong> Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>October 2, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SecWar\/status\/1974150886084485503?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1974150886084485503%7Ctwgr%5Efeb9d49a985bf68a37197d64dce1725ac20ecb5d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D502663action%3Dedit\">4<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater:<\/strong> Caribbean <\/li>\n<li><strong>Target: <\/strong>Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Earlier this morning, on President Trump&#8217;s orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QpNPljFcGn\">pic.twitter.com\/QpNPljFcGn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1974150886084485503?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">October 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>September 19, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/115233555445134712\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater: <\/strong>Caribbean <\/li>\n<li><strong>Target:<\/strong> Unspecified Designated Terrorist Organization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>September 15, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/115210075167747572\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater<\/strong>: Caribbean<\/li>\n<li><strong>Target<\/strong>: \u201cDrug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>September 2, 2025<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Death toll:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/115136798909755892\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">11<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Theater: <\/strong>Caribbean<\/li>\n<li><strong>Target: <\/strong>Tren de Aragua (Venezuela)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>  <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since September, the Trump administration has conducted an undeclared war in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, killing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":387325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[16429,35554,16437,50,16428,16434,16435,16436,1393,47537,184717,67,132,68,16431],"class_list":{"0":"post-387324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-article-type-article-post","10":"tag-day-monday","11":"tag-language-english","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-page-type-article","14":"tag-partner-factiva","15":"tag-partner-smart-news","16":"tag-partner-social-flow","17":"tag-short","18":"tag-subject-national-security","19":"tag-time-18-00","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-wc-0-999"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115570181809129165","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}