October 17, 2025: The Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, the department said. The action was taken “at the direction of President Trump” and occurred within the area of responsibility of U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), according to the statement.

U.S. intelligence, the statement said, identified the vessel as engaged in illicit narcotics smuggling along a known narco‑trafficking route and carrying “substantial amounts of narcotics.” The strike, conducted in international waters, killed three male occupants described as “narco‑terrorists.” No U.S. forces were harmed, the department added.

The announcement characterized the traffickers and cartels operating in the Western Hemisphere as comparable to “the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere,” saying they use “violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people.” The release further stated that “the United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are — they will be hunted, and killed, just like Al Qaeda.”

The statement did not include additional operational details such as the precise location, the timing of the strike, or the intelligence sources that led to the action. USSOUTHCOM, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Caribbean and much of Latin America, frequently conducts and coordinates counternarcotics and counterterrorism activities in the region.