The Trump administration earlier this week carried out the 20th attack against alleged narco-terrorists in the Caribbean Sea, a Pentagon official confirmed to NBC News.
Four people were killed in the Nov. 10 attack, the official said, bringing the total number of individuals killed in these attacks to 79. NBC News has not independently verified the strikes.
The Trump administration has announced kinetic strikes against boats it has accused of carrying narcotics traffickers and members of the Tren de Aragua gang at a steady pace over the last few weeks. In late October, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed an aircraft carrier strike group to move into the U.S. Southern Command’s area of responsibility to bolster these attacks.
This month, the United States has conducted at least three similar attacks, separately killing three people in one strike, two people in the next and six people in the third strike.
The moves have raised concern among international allies, with sources telling NBC News earlier this week that the United Kingdom is withholding some intelligence from the U.S. over concerns about the legality of the strikes.
Earlier this week, Colombian President Gustavo Petro called President Donald Trump a "barbarian" for this barrage of attacks.
Petro told NBC News that the U.S.' positioning in the Caribbean is “undoubtedly an aggression against Latin America.”
Trump has said the attacks are justified and are part of an “armed conflict” between the U.S. and terror organizations bringing drugs into the U.S.
In a confidential notice to Congress last month, the White House wrote, "The President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States."
"The President determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations,” the note added.
Trump has faced criticism from Capitol Hill, too, where the Senate earlier this month narrowly failed to pass a measure that would have required congressional approval for the ongoing military strikes on boats.
Two Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky — and all Senate Democrats voted in favor of the measure.
In late October, Trump indicated that he didn't need a formal declaration of war from Congress to continue the strikes.
He told reporters at the White House, “I don’t think we’re necessarily going to ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. We’re going to kill them. They’re going to be, like, dead."
Last month, the president also acknowledged that he has authorized CIA activity in Venezuela, though he didn't provide further details about what that activity would be.
“I authorized for two reasons, really,” Trump said at the time. “No. 1, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America. And the other thing are drugs. We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela."
