U.S. Southern Command said Friday that Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike on a vessel operated by drug traffickers in the Caribbean, killing three people identified as narco-terrorists.

The strike took place Feb. 13 at the direction of Southern Command leader Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the command said in a statement posted on X.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Three narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” the post stated.

This week, Donovan, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and Northern Command leader Gen. Gregory M. Guillot met with War Department officials and senior military representatives from 34 nations to detail shared security priorities and regional cooperation in the face of drug trafficking and transnational criminal organizations.

“Narco-terrorist organizations traffic in drugs, weapons, and human beings, while engaging in illegal mining, logging, and fishing—activities that fuel corruption and instability, erode the sovereignty of our partner nations, and threaten our shared security,” Donovan said. “The most effective way to defeat them is by sharing the burden of that defense with our allies and partners.”

The action is part of an ongoing U.S. military campaign against vessels connected to narco-trafficking in the Western Hemisphere. The Joint Task Force Southern Spear has conducted dozens of similar strikes. The operation has extended from the Caribbean into the Eastern Pacific.

Southern Command on Jan. 23 announced a strike on a narco-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean that killed two people. The command called it a “lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations” in international waters.

On Dec. 19, the task force struck two vessels in the Eastern Pacific. Five male narco-terrorists were killed, three on the first boat and two on the second, the U.S. Southern Command stated.

In mid-November 2025, Southern Command announced its 20th strike on a drug boat in the Caribbean, killing four people.

“President [Donald] Trump ordered action—and the Department of War is delivering,” Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X in November. “Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and @SOUTHCOM, this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood—and we will protect it.”

The campaign started in early September 2025 as U.S. forces struck an alleged drug boat with ties to the Tren de Aragua gang, a designated terrorist organization. Trump said that 11 presumed gang members were killed in the strike.