The US military's Southern Command has carried out its second deadly boat strike in a week, bringing the death toll to 133. The command confirmed the latest strike killed three suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean on Friday. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. The command included a video of the strike, showing a boat traveling through the water as it explodes into flames after being hit with what looks like a missile. The Friday strike follows a similar deadly attack on another boat in the eastern Pacific on Monday, which resulted in the deaths of two suspected drug smugglers, with one survivor. The Pentagon has framed its operations in the region as a campaign against 'narco-terrorism', but has provided scant evidence of coordinated drug-smuggling rings. The legality of these boat strikes is under scrutiny, with legal experts saying the attacks amount to extrajudicial killings by the Pentagon with a complete lack of accountability. The Trump administration is being criticized for asserting and exercising an apparently unlimited license to kill people deemed terrorists. The Southern Command's first strike in the Caribbean since November has raised concerns about the command's new head, Gen. Francis L. Donovan, who took over after Alvin Holsey, a US Navy admiral, retired over reported disagreements over the boat-strike policy. The US's recent actions in the region, including an attack on Venezuela's capital in January, have sparked further debate about the command's policies and their impact on the region.
