{"id":660428,"date":"2026-08-31T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=660428"},"modified":"2026-08-31T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T01:00:00","slug":"us-forces-sink-vessel-providing-at-sea-refueling-for-cartel-southcom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=660428","title":{"rendered":"US Forces Sink Vessel Providing At-Sea Refueling For Cartel: SOUTHCOM"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Forces Sink Vessel Providing At-Sea Refueling For Cartel: SOUTHCOM<\/span><\/p>\n

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Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times<\/a>,<\/em><\/p>\n

U.S. forces, on Aug. 28, sank a vessel in the eastern Pacific that the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said was serving as an at-sea refueling point for drug-trafficking boats.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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A vessel suspected of providing at-sea refueling for drug traffickers burns after being targeted by U.S. forces on Aug. 28, 2026. U.S. Southern Command<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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SOUTHCOM, which oversees military operations in and around Central and South America, said U.S. forces worked in coordination with the government of Ecuador to track down the vessel.<\/p>\n

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel, previously identified and targeted under Department of the Treasury sanctions, was operating in support of the Los Choneros violent narco-terrorist organization,” SOUTHCOM said in a press statement.<\/p>\n

Los Choneros is one of more than a dozen Latin American transnational criminal enterprises that the U.S. government has designated as a foreign terrorist organization since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.<\/p>\n

According to SOUTHCOM, U.S. Marines and sailors launched from the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Antonio to board and search the vessel, and did so without incident.<\/p>\n

“Individuals removed from the vessel were safely escorted to Ecuador. Once cleared, U.S. forces sank the vessel,” SOUTHCOM said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

SOUTHCOM has since published footage<\/a> purporting to show U.S. forces boarding the suspect vessel, as well as footage of the boat being destroyed in a fiery blast.<\/p>\n

“Today’s operation is a stark example of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition’s power to dismantle the sophisticated, clandestine narco-terrorist tactics and capabilities that have enabled the trafficking of dangerous drugs destined for American communities,” SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan said of the operation.<\/p>\n

The Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, formed in March of this year, is a military partnership between the United States and other Western Hemisphere nations to disrupt cartel operations.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military had been taking a more forceful approach to disrupt cartel operations even before recruiting regional partners through the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 2, 2025, U.S. forces bombed a boat in the Caribbean Sea, which officials said was transporting narcotics, killing 11. It was the first in an ongoing series of strikes on drug boats.<\/p>\n

U.S. forces have struck dozens more vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific in the past year. Most recently, SOUTHCOM claimed responsibility for a strike<\/a> in the Caribbean on Aug. 25 that killed four people it identified as members of a drug-trafficking network.<\/p>\n

The campaign of lethal strikes on boats has met with scrutiny and criticism.<\/p>\n

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), in an Aug. 3 letter to the president, said: “A careful review of the available evidence suggests that the United States has killed individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking.”<\/p>\n

A December report by Human Rights Watch described the campaign of boat strikes as a series of “extrajudicial killings.”<\/p>\n

The family members of two Trinidadian nationals who have been missing since October filed<\/a> a wrongful death lawsuit against the United States in January. The plaintiffs claimed that the two missing men had been working as migrant laborers in neighboring Venezuela, and had arranged a boat ride home to Trinidad and Tobago, but were likely killed in an Oct. 14 strike by U.S. forces.<\/p>\n

The U.S. government has not publicly identified any of the individuals they believe to have killed in these boat strikes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSun, 08\/30\/2026 – 21:00<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Forces Sink Vessel Providing At-Sea Refueling For Cartel: SOUTHCOM Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times, U.S. forces, on Aug. 28, sank a vessel in the eastern Pacific that the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said was serving as an at-sea refueling point for drug-trafficking boats. A vessel suspected of providing at-sea refueling for… Continue reading US Forces Sink Vessel Providing At-Sea Refueling For Cartel: SOUTHCOM<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":660429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=660428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/660429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=660428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=660428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=660428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}