OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
1:36 PM – Friday, February 6, 2026
The U.S. military has intercepted yet another suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific, marking the second such engagement this year under the Trump administration’s “Operation Southern Spear.”
On Thursday, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) released a 12-second video on X documenting the mission, which shows the craft erupting in flames after being neutralized by a “lethal kinetic strike.”
SOUTHCOM confirmed that Lieutenant General Francis L. Donovan, acting as the presiding commander, authorized Joint Task Force (JTF) Southern Spear to execute a precision strike on the vessel. The target was identified as being operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTOs) involved in illicit maritime trafficking, marking a significant escalation in the interdiction efforts of the regional task force.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the command reported. “Two narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed.”
Since the launch of Operation Southern Spear on September 2nd, the U.S. has conducted at least 37 kinetic strikes against suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, resulting in the deaths of over 100 individuals identified as narco-terrorists.
The engagement on January 23rd was the first 2026 lethal action taken against a narco vessel since the capture of Venezuelan Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Conducted under the authority of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the strike targeted a “stateless vessel” in the Eastern Pacific smuggling corridor. Military intelligence identified the occupants as members of a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), and the resulting strike destroyed the craft and killed two suspects, marking the transition of the operation into its 2026 phase.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed his support for the ongoing mission, highlighting Maduro’s purported role in orchestrating large-scale cocaine trafficking into American communities.
“We will continue to reserve the right to take strikes against drug boats that are bringing drugs towards the United States that are being operated by transnational criminal organizations, including the Cartel de los Soles,” he said. “Of course, their leader, the leader of that cartel is now in U.S. custody and facing U.S. justice in the Southern District of New York, and that’s Nicolás Maduro.”
The U.S. has also seized at least six oil tankers related to Venezuela, named Skipper, Centuries, Sophia, Veronica, Olina, Bella 1 and Sagitta.
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