A timeline of U.S. strikes on boats that have killed 64

This grid of images shows 10 of the 11 incidents in which the US military has targeted boats in international waters, from September 2 to October 29. (Pete Hegseth/X/Donald Trump/Truth Social via CNN Newsource)

The U.S. military has killed 64 people in 15 strikes that have destroyed 16 boats as part of a campaign that Washington says is aimed at curtailing the flow of drugs into the United States.

There have been three survivors of those strikes, two of whom were briefly detained by the U.S. Navy before being returned to their home countries.

The Trump administration has told Congress that the U.S. is now in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels beginning with its first strike on September 2, labeling those killed “unlawful combatants” and claiming the ability to engage in lethal strikes without judicial review due to a classified Justice Department finding.

Some members of Congress as well as human rights groups have questioned that finding and argued that potential drug traffickers should face prosecution, as had been the policy of interdiction carried out by the U.S. before President Donald Trump took office.

The Trump administration has also not provided public evidence of the presence of narcotics on the boats struck, nor their affiliation with drug cartels.

Military officials have said that no U.S. service members have been harmed in the strikes.

Here is the timeline of the attacks:

September 2, first attack

The first strike on a vessel in the Caribbean took place on September 2.

Trump announced the offensive on his social media accounts and said that under his orders, US forces “conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.”

“TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!” he added.

CNN reported that Defense Department officials have not, during briefings to members of Congress, presented conclusive evidence that the targets of the first attack were members of Tren de Aragua, and that those briefed said military officials could not determine the intended destination of the boat with certainty.

CNN also reported that the boat appeared to have turned around before it was struck.

The strike killed 11 people.

September 15

Less than two weeks later, the US military carried out a second strike against a vessel in international waters, killing three.

Trump said the vessel was allegedly “transporting illegal narcotics” from Venezuela.

“These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to US National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests,” he added.

The strike came amid rising tensions with that country, as the United States deployed military assets to the region.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described the strikes on boats as “serial executions” and called on the UN to investigate, while saying that the US is seeking regime change. Venezuela’s defense minister, Vladimir Padrino, said it amounts to “an undeclared war,” while the foreign ministry denounced Washington’s “military threat.”

At the time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said they expected more activity in the Caribbean in an effort to reduce drug traffic into the US.

September 19

Four days later, Trump announced another lethal military strike on a suspected drug trafficking vessel that he said was affiliated with a designated terrorist organization.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans,” Trump posted on Truth Social alongside a video of the operation.

Three people were killed in the strike.

October 3

Hegseth announced that the US military had carried out a fourth strike in which four people died.

The attack took place in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela, Hegseth wrote in a post on social media.

He did not say which alleged terrorist organization the boat was linked to, but added that “Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route.”

October 14

Six people died in the fifth US strike on a vessel, this boat described by officials as off the Venezuelan coast.

Once again, Trump said the vessel was “affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization,” but he did not name a specific group or provide evidence of the boats activities.

In a letter to Congress in early October, the Pentagon said Trump had determined that the United States is in an “armed conflict” with the drug cartels his administration designated as terrorist organizations, and that cartel traffickers are “unlawful combatants.”

October 16

The US carried out a sixth strike on a boat in the Caribbean. This was believed to be the first operation in which not all crew members on board were killed.

The two survivors, one each from Ecuador and Colombia, were sent back to their home countries after being briefly detained on a US Navy ship.

“At least 25,000 Americans would die if I allowed this submarine to come ashore. The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Jeison Obando Pérez, 34 years old, was identified as the survivor repatriated to Colombia in a post on X by the country’s minister of the interior, Armando Benedetti. Pérez arrived “with brain trauma, sedated, drugged, breathing with a ventilator,” said Benedetti, who added that he had received medical attention.

The survivor from Ecuador, was identified as Andrés Fernando Tufiño Chila, 41 years old, according to a record from the National Police of Ecuador accessed by CNN. He arrived in the country on October 18 and underwent a medical evaluation.

The Office of the Attorney General of Ecuador reported on October 20 that there is no information that Tufiño Chila had committed a crime in Ecuadorian territory. However, US court documents indicate that he was arrested, convicted and imprisoned in 2020 for drug smuggling on the coast of Mexico before being deported.

“No, no… He is not. He is not a criminal,” said Tufiño Chila’s sister, who requested anonymity for security reasons, in statements to CNN from a small coastal town near Guayaquil, Ecuador.

October 17

Hegseth announced that a seventh targeted vessel “transporting substantial amounts of narcotics” was struck and that it was affiliated with a Colombian terrorist organization.

All three crew members on board were killed.

“These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people,” Hegseth wrote.

“The United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are—they will be hunted, and killed, just like Al Qaeda.”

The attacks sparked public clashes with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who accused the United States of killing an innocent Colombian citizen during one of its strikes on vessels in the Caribbean. Trump announced he would cancel all US aid and subsidies to the country.

October 21 and 22, first attacks in the Pacific

The US military carried out lethal strikes on two ships in the Pacific, killing everyone on board each vessel, according to Hegseth.

Two people were killed in the eighth strike and three in the ninth.

Hegseth wrote on X that the first vessel targeted in the Pacific was “operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific,” adding, “The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling.”

The action against vessels in the Pacific appeared to mark an expansion of the US military campaign, as the previous seven attacks were all conducted against ships in the Caribbean Sea.

“Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere,” Hegseth said.

October 24

The tenth attack killed all 6 crew members.

The Defense secretary said the US conducted a nighttime attack on a ship allegedly operated by Tren de Aragua in the Caribbean.

October 27, multiple strikes

Hegseth reported multiple strikes in a single day for the first time, with three missiles hitting four vessels in international waters of the eastern Pacific on Monday, 27th.

He reported that 14 people were killed aboard the vessels “operated by designated terrorist organizations” and that there was one survivor who was not recovered.

“The four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics,” the Defense Secretary stated.

Hegseth said that the US military had contacted the Mexican government to look for the survivor. The Mexican Navy said Friday that the search is in a “suspended active” status and the person is considered missing.

October 29

The United States Armed Forces carried out an attack on a vessel in the Pacific Ocean that left four dead, Hegseth reported.

“This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” the Defense Secretary said in a post on X. He added that US forces suffered no casualties.

November 1

The US military carried out a strike on another vessel in the Caribbean Sea and killed three people on board, according to Hegseth.

“Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Caribbean,” Hegseth announced on X with an unclassified video of the strike. No US forces were harmed in the strike, he noted.

By Michael Rios, Avery Schmitz and Matt Stiles