JTF Southern Spear killed five across two suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 27th-28th strikes, ~104 campaign deaths
On December 18, 2025, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out two successive lethal strikes on vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean — the 27th and 28th of the campaign — killing five people in total, according to U.S. Southern Command. The command asserted the boats were operated by designated terrorist organizations on known narco-trafficking routes but provided no charges, evidence, or attempt at interdiction or arrest. The strikes pushed the campaign's reported cumulative death toll past 100.
Actors
On December 18, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out two lethal strikes on vessels in international waters in the eastern Pacific — the 27th and 28th strikes of Operation Southern Spear. U.S. Southern Command reported that the first strike killed three people and the second killed two, for five killed in total. The command stated the boats were "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations" transiting known narco-trafficking routes. No charges were filed, no evidence was made public, no individuals were identified, and no attempt at interdiction or arrest was reported; SOUTHCOM's only release was a brief press statement asserting the allegation and the death toll. The strikes pushed the campaign's reported cumulative death toll past 100.
CNN and USNI News independently corroborated the Dec. 18 double strike and its five-person toll, attributing the operations to SOUTHCOM under Operation Southern Spear; the Just Security timeline of vessel strikes situates these as the 27th and 28th incidents in the ongoing campaign. As with every strike in the series, no government filing, court process, or public evidence accompanied the killings. The campaign continued with further strikes the same week: a single strike on Dec. 17 (the 26th) killing four, and a triple strike on Dec. 15 killing eight.
This entry is recorded as part of the southcom-drug-boat-strikes episode — the sustained, congressionally unauthorized use of lethal military force against individuals accused of drug trafficking, with no judicial process and no attempt at arrest (extrajudicial actions), carried out by uniformed forces redirected to a counter-narcotics mission framed as armed conflict (politicization of uniformed services). The Dec. 18 date makes this entry among the earliest in the archive's record of the campaign.
Why we recorded this
A foundational rule of constitutional government is that the state may not impose punishment — least of all death — on anyone without lawful process, and that the power to wage war belongs to Congress, not to officials directing the armed forces on their own assertion. These strikes, the 27th and 28th of Operation Southern Spear, killed five people in international waters on the basis of unverified allegations that the boats were operated by designated terrorist organizations — with no charges filed, no evidence made public, and no attempt at interdiction or arrest. We record this because it is part of a documented pattern of the executive branch applying lethal military force against individuals outside any legal process, erasing the constitutional line between law enforcement and unchecked military violence.
Sources
- Lethal Kinetic Strikes, Dec. 18, 2025 — U.S. Southern Command primary accessed June 17, 2026
- US strikes 2 more boats in the Pacific Ocean, killing 5 — CNN secondary accessed June 17, 2026
- U.S. Southern Command Strikes 2 Suspected Narco Boats in Eastern Pacific — USNI News secondary accessed June 17, 2026
- Timeline of Vessel Strikes and Related Actions — Just Security secondary accessed June 17, 2026
See also
- JTF Southern Spear killed five across two suspected narcotics vessels; 34th-35th strikes, ~115 campaign deaths
- JTF Southern Spear killed eight across three suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 23rd-25th strikes, ~95 campaign deaths
- JTF Southern Spear killed four aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 26th strike, ~99 campaign deaths
- JTF Southern Spear killed one aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 29th strike, ~105 campaign deaths
- JTF Southern Spear struck convoy in eastern Pacific, killing three and abandoning survivors; 31st-33rd strikes, ~110 campaign deaths