The U.S. Department of Defense has taken a series of bold steps over the past week under the direction of Pete Hegseth. Following two controversial strikes in the Caribbean, the latest operation targeted two alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday. However, the U.S. Southern Command appeared to avoid controversy this time by releasing footage of the strike shortly afterward.
The operation, carried out under Hegseth’s command, was named Operation Southern Spear. So far, approximately 104 suspected drug traffickers are believed to have been killed in covert operations conducted by the United States.
Earlier this week, U.S. forces killed eight people aboard three suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific on Monday. On Wednesday, four more people were killed aboard a single boat in the same region. The strikes are still being categorized as suspected operations and were carried out as part of President Trump’s stated efforts to curb the flow of narcotics into the United States.
For Thursday’s strike, U.S. Southern Command released footage of the operation on X and provided a detailed explanation of how it was conducted.
On Dec. 18, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known… pic.twitter.com/CcCyOgYRto
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) December 19, 2025
Detailing the casualties, the caption on the official post stated, “A total of five male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions — three in the first vessel and two in the second vessel. No U.S. military forces were harmed.”
The United States has significantly increased its military operations across South America in recent months, with a particular focus on Venezuela — a country President Donald Trump has accused of stealing oil, land, and other U.S.-owned assets.
On Tuesday, the U.S. president ordered a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned tankers transporting oil in and out of Venezuela. His administration carried out the directive by deploying troops and launching a carrier strike in the Caribbean. Trump’s message also included a sharply worded remark claiming Venezuela was backed by “the largest Armada ever assembled in the history of South America.”
He later stated, “… It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro offered a starkly different response, accusing Trump of pursuing regime change while unlawfully attempting to seize Venezuelan territory and resources. He said, “It is simply a warmongering and colonialist pretense, and we have said so many times, and now everyone sees the truth. The truth has been revealed.”
In the aftermath of the boat strikes, Pete Hegseth faced significant backlash. Given allegations that he had ordered no survivors, critics widely described the operation as an act of war, particularly amid questions over whether the vessels were definitively engaged in drug trafficking.
In response to the criticism, Hegseth stated that the department would not release the full video footage of the attack. Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, he said, “In keeping with long-standing Department of War policy, Department of Defense policy, of course, we’re not going to release a top-secret full unedited video of that to the general public.”
