JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 2nd strike, ~[N] campaign deaths

On September 15, 2025, President Trump announced on Truth Social that U.S. military forces had carried out a second lethal strike under Operation Southern Spear in the Caribbean. Three men aboard a vessel were killed. Trump alleged they were trafficking drugs, posting aerial video of the vessel exploding, but provided no independent evidence of their identities or cargo. He warned: "BE WARNED — IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!"

Colombian President Gustavo Petro subsequently alleged that one of the three killed was Alejandro Andrés Carranza Medina, a Colombian fisherman with no ties to drug trafficking. Petro stated the boat had departed La Guajira in northeastern Colombia early on September 15, had raised its distress signal due to engine failure, and was likely still in Colombian territorial waters when struck — directly contradicting Trump's claim of international waters. Petro accused the U.S. of "murdering" Carranza and violating Colombian sovereignty. The White House dismissed his allegations as "baseless."

On October 1, 2025, Trump formally notified Congress that the U.S. was engaged in a "non-international armed conflict" with "unlawful combatants" regarding drug cartels in the Caribbean, specifically citing the September 15 strike as the legal reference point for this characterization. This retroactive framing gave legal cover to operations already underway without prior congressional authorization or declaration of war.