by Jon Queally | Apr 27, 2026 | Article, Central America, Latin America, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, Reprint, Trump, war on drugs
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on April 27, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
The murder spree being conducted by the US government under the direction of President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth climbed to an estimated 185 people on Sunday after the Pentagon announced another bombing of a boat it claims was trafficking illegal narcotics.
“On April 26, at the direction of SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” the US military stated in a social media post. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No US military forces were harmed.”
While no specific evidence was provided publicly to back up the claims made by SOUTHCOM about Sunday’s strike, human rights experts and legal scholars have made clear for months that such lethal operations at sea—whether or not those targeted are in fact trafficking drugs—have no justification under international maritime law and that the extrajudicial killings should be seen for what they are: cold-blooded murder.
Footage released by SOUTHCOM showed the moment the vessel was attacked, and those aboard were killed:
On April 26, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known… pic.twitter.com/br2znnUM1x— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) April 27, 2026
In a separate attack on April 24, also carried out by SOUTHCOM, two other individuals were murdered when their boat, filmed stationary in the
by Julia Conley | Apr 17, 2026 | Boat Strikes, Latin America, News, Pete Hegseth, Trump Administration, US Military
As Republicans and several Democrats in the U.S. Senate gave the go-ahead for the U.S. to send more bombs and military equipment to Israel for its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon on Wednesday, the Trump administration was continuing what it claims is an effort to rid Latin American countries of drug traffickers — killing three people aboard a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean in the U.S.
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by Michael Fox | Apr 9, 2026 | Latin America, Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Under the Shadow, war on drugs
The US has funneled billions into its allies in Latin America under the guise of fighting the drug traffickers. It has ripped apart countries. And the violence has only gotten worse. Decades of fighting, with little to show for it except human rights abuses, displacement, and tens of thousands of dead and disappeared.
In the last episode, host Michael Fox took you to Mexico City to walk through Mexico’s Museum of Interventions to witness firsthand the long history of foreign and, in particular, US intervention in the country.
Today, he brings listeners up to the present, diving head-first into the US-backed drug war in Mexico, which has overtaken the country in recent decades and fueled an epidemic of violence that has disappeared more than 100,000 people over the last 20 years. We’ll look at Trump’s threats and the repercussions they are having in the country, and we’ll also hear the voices of Mexicans who are standing up.
This is Episode 10 of Under the Shadow, Season 2.
Under the Shadow is an investigative narrative podcast series that walks back in time, telling the story of the past by visiting momentous places in the present. Season 2 responds in real time to the Trump administration’s onslaught on Latin America.
Hosted by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox.
This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA.
Theme music by Michael Fox’s band, Monte Perdido. Monte Perdido’s 2024 album Ofrenda is available on Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you listen to music.
Other music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound.
Script editing by Heather Gies. Hosted, written, produced, mixed, and edited by Michael Fox.
Many thanks to the Mexico-based journalists
by Stephen Prager | Mar 26, 2026 | Boat Strikes, bombing, Colombia, Daniel Noboa, Department of Defense, Ecuador, Gustavo Petro, Human Rights, Latin America, News, Torture, Trump Administration, US Military
Just a day after President Donald Trump suggested that he’d use his crushing economic blockade in a bid to “take” Cuba, an administration official said much more American warfare is on the horizon across Latin America. It’s called “Operation Total Extermination,” according to Joseph M. Humire, the acting assistant secretary of war for homeland defense and Americas security affairs…
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by Jonathan Ng | Mar 16, 2026 | Augusto Pinochet, Authoritarianism, cartels, Central America, chile, Cold War, disappearances, Dissent, Donald Trump, El Salvador, history, Honduras, Human Rights, ICE, immigration jails, Latin America, mexico, NAFTA, Nayib Bukele, News Analysis, Repression, Ronald Reagan
Josué Aguilar Valle, a Honduran national, recalls the “terrible” conditions at the migrant jails where U.S. immigration authorities imprisoned him last year. In La Salle County, Texas, Aguilar shared a frigid cell with 50 men, sleeping on the concrete floor. “I thought I was going to experience hypothermia,” he explained. Aguilar’s wife struggled to locate him…
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