JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 21st strike, ~80 campaign deaths

On November 15, 2025, U.S. Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 3 people. U.S. Southern Command announced the operation the following day on social media, identifying the vessel as operated by a "Designated Terrorist Organization" engaged in "illicit narcotics smuggling" but providing no public evidence, arrest warrant, charges, or judicial process. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the strike under President Trump's orders. The strike was the 21st of the campaign, which had formally been named Operation Southern Spear two days earlier when Hegseth announced it following the 20th strike.

The Southern Spear campaign began in early September 2025 and by the time of this strike had killed approximately 80 people in international waters without any charges, trials, or independent verification of drug activity. The administration provided no legal basis for lethal force in international waters against individuals not convicted of — or even charged with — any crime. Congress holds the sole constitutional authority to declare war; the Trump administration did not seek authorization and Trump publicly stated he would not. UN human rights experts had already characterized the strikes as extrajudicial executions under international law.

This archive records the strike as an extrajudicial action and an instance of bypassing congressional war authorization — part of the Operation Southern Spear episode, which documents a sustained pattern of executive lethal force outside democratic accountability.