‘These are murders’: Trump killing spree hits at least 185
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
Two US Officials Who Died After Mexico Drug Lab Bust Were CIA Operatives
Two U.S. officials who died in a car crash after a reported drug lab bust in Mexico on Saturday were operatives for the Central Intelligence Agency, reports have revealed, amid the Trump administration’s expansion of paramilitary and covert operations in Latin America. The officers died alongside two Mexican military officials on their way from a raid on a drug lab in the state of Chihuahua.
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How US policy fueled Mexico’s cartel crisis
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
Our Prison-Like Clinic System Is Thwarting Effective Opioid Addiction Treatment
Indulge me. Imagine you take a medication that is vital to your health: as vital as oxygen or water. You can’t go a single day without it because you are completely dependent on it to think, to work, to take care of your family, to just be you. And if you miss a dose? A withdrawal hellscape awaits: extreme muscle and bone pain, intense cravings, vomiting, insomnia, severe anxiety, cramps…
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Trump Is Betting MAGA Fans Will Relish an Expanded War on Drugs
When Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro stepped foot in a Manhattan courtroom on January 5, he entered the proceedings of the highest-profile case in the “war on drugs” to date. The indictment came after years of threats toward Maduro from the U.S., including a dramatic U.S. military buildup over the past five months and a string of extrajudicial killings by sinking dozens of small boats…
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