The US Coast Guard has suspended a three-day, 65-hour search for survivors after US military strikes on multiple boats in the eastern Pacific, about 400 nautical miles southwest of the Mexico/Guatemala border. Southern Command reported five recent fatalities across separate incidents and said the vessels were involved in drug smuggling, though it provided no public evidence. Human rights groups and legal experts have decried the strikes as potential extrajudicial killings, while the Trump administration defends the operations as targeting "narcoterrorists."
US Coast Guard Suspends Three-Day Search After Eastern Pacific Boat Strikes; Critics Call Actions Extrajudicial
A US Coast Guard ship is docked at Coast Guard Base San Juan, on December 31, 2025, in San Juan, Puerto Rico [Miguel J Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP]
The United States Coast Guard said Friday it has suspended a three-day search for survivors after recent US military strikes on vessels in the eastern Pacific, part of a wider campaign in waters near Venezuela.
In a statement published on its website, the Coast Guard said the search focused on water "approximately 400 nautical miles (about 740 km) southwest of the Mexico/Guatemala border" and lasted more than 65 hours without any reported sightings of survivors. US media reported the operation took place amid rough conditions, including nine-foot seas and 40-knot winds.
Military Accounts and Casualties
The US Southern Command said it struck three boats traveling in a convoy in the eastern Pacific, reporting that three people were killed on one vessel while passengers on the other boats jumped overboard and the follow-on engagements sank those vessels. The command also said a later strike on a separate boat killed two additional people but did not disclose that strike's location.
Southern Command described the targeted vessels as involved in drug smuggling but provided no public evidence for that claim. According to figures released by the Trump administration, the incidents raise the count of known boat strikes to 33 and the number of people killed to at least 115 since early September.
Search And Coordination
The military said it immediately notified the Coast Guard because no Navy ships were in the immediate area. The Coast Guard dispatched a plane from California and alerted vessels in the region to assist with search efforts, but it did not specify how many people were believed to be in the water after the strikes.
Legal And Human Rights Concerns
Human rights organizations and international law experts have criticized the strikes, arguing that US military attacks on small vessels amount to extrajudicial killings — actions carried out without judicial process or clear legal authority. The Trump administration has defended the operations by labeling the targets "narcoterrorists," saying they are driven by ambitions to destabilize the United States through the drug trade.
The military faced heightened scrutiny after a follow-on strike in the Caribbean in early September appeared to have killed survivors of an earlier attack, raising questions about compliance with rules of engagement and the laws of armed conflict. There have also been other documented incidents in which survivors were rescued or where searches were suspended after days of effort, including actions by the Mexican Navy and the later release by Ecuador of a detainee found not to have committed crimes on Ecuadorian soil.
Regional Context
Many of the US strikes have occurred in waters surrounding Venezuela, a country that has been the focus of escalating US sanctions, an enhanced US military presence nearby, and restrictions on Venezuelan oil tankers. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accuses the United States of seeking to destabilize his government and seize the country's oil resources; however, he recently signaled willingness to negotiate on measures to combat drug trafficking.
Note: Reporting on these incidents includes official US military statements and figures from the US administration, as well as reactions from human rights groups and regional authorities. Some claims—particularly those asserting drug-smuggling activity—have not been accompanied by public evidence.
Help us improve.
