Screenshot from a video showing a US extrajudicial killing on small boats in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico. Photo: US secretary of war.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—a total of 14 people were killed and one survived after the US government conducted three strikes against four small boats in the waters of the Eastern Pacific near Mexico, in what is being described as another extrajudicial killing.
The information was released Tuesday morning by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who claimed on social media that “three lethal kinetic attacks were carried out against four vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations … A total of 14 narcoterrorists died during the three attacks.”
Hegseth claimed that the first attack killed eight people on board two boats, the second killed four men, and the third killed two people. He also claimed that there is one survivor. While writing that “there were no casualties among the US forces,” Hegseth confirmed that the US government had ordered further extrajudicial executions, in flagrant violation of international and US laws.
Secretary Hegseth, sea interdictions have a 25% failure rate, by your own experts' admission.
It means ~15 innocent people have been killed for doing nothing but being at sea.
There is no justification for this.
It is state-sanctioned assassination, plain and simple.
Their… https://t.co/eRDm3icuyK
— Orinoco Tribune (@OrinocoTribune) October 28, 2025
Hegseth justified this action by claiming that the victims, whom he labeled “narco-terrorists, have killed more US nationals than Al-Qaeda, and they will receive the same treatment. We will track them down, connect them to networks, and then hunt them down and eliminate them.”
Since last September, the Trump regime has carried out “kinetic strikes” against small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. However, no conclusive evidence has been provided that the citizens executed without due process were actually linked to drug trafficking.
The opacity of the information released by the US government on these military operations has raised suspicions among experts and human rights organizations. The strikes have drawn international condemnation, and legal experts have questioned their legality. Members of the US Congress from both parties have also raised concerns and questioned Trump’s authority to order the strikes.
Mexico’s role
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed Tuesday that the Mexican Navy rescued a survivor from a boat destroyed by the US military in the Pacific, which she described as a humanitarian operation.
“Today the secretary of the navy informed me,” stated Sheinbaum. “An attack in international waters against small boats that allegedly carried drugs. It appears there was one survivor, and the navy, for humanitarian reasons and within international treaties, decided to rescue this person,” the Mexican president said at her morning press conference.
Sheinbaum expressed her disagreement with the US extrajudicial killings, which lack the necessary evidence that the victims were transporting drugs and have now claimed the lives of 57 people.
“I asked the secretary of the navy and the secretary of foreign affairs to discuss these issues at a meeting because we want all international treaties to be complied with. We do not agree with these attacks,” she said.
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The Mexican Navy issued a statement on social media indicating that the rescue took place more than 400 miles southwest of Acapulco.
“In compliance with the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and following a request from the US Coast Guard, the Mexican Navy is conducting a maritime search and rescue operation more than 400 miles southwest of Acapulco to safeguard human life at sea,” the statement read.
Some analysts have criticized the inhumanity of the US military striking small boats and failing to rescue the survivor themselves. Meanwhile, others have suggested that Mexico’s role could be seen as complicity in an illegal act that might have killed Mexican nationals and might be repeated in future controversial US military operations.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/SL
