Concerns that U.S. actions amount to war crimes have resurfaced following the most recent deadly strike on a suspected boat. CBS reports that this makes at least 231 deaths without judicial action. “As has been the case with other operations,” said Politico, “no information was released on the identities of those killed or the intelligence used to identify them as “narco-terrorists.”
A report from the United Nations’ Human Rights Council claims that these boat strikes run “contrary to international law, violate the human right to life, and plausibly constitute crimes against humanity.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the actions during a visit to Ecuador, focusing on international cooperation in the campaigns, but saying that the U.S. will “still blow up ships if need be.”
Public reaction in Puerto Rico has been mixed, ranging from appreciation of the additional defense investment to concern over the tactics being used and fears that Puerto Rico might be used as a hub for military action against Caribbean and Latin American nations.
Efforts to help control drug-related violence in Puerto Rico
More than a decade ago, then-Governor Luis Fortuño said, “Today, Puerto Rico is serving as the last line of defense in the Caribbean to prevent drugs and violence from reaching the U.S. mainland….[W]e cannot fight this war alone, nor should we be required to do so. This is a shared responsibility. The consequences affect us all.”
Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California, as well as states bordering Canada, all have voting representation in Congress, while Puerto Rico does not. It should come as no surprise that the northern and southern borders have historically been better guarded than the Caribbean border. Congressmen and senators speak up for their own constituents before they think about drug-related violence in Puerto Rico. That’s democracy in action, but as a consequence, homicide rates are high in Puerto Rico and the Department of Justice estimates that as much as 70% of these crimes are related to drug trafficking.
Puerto Rico’s governors and resident commissioners have constantly requested more help with defense against drug-running gangs and cartels.
Through the years, there have been several announcements of multi-faceted efforts to battle drug-related violence along the nation’s third border in the Caribbean. The U.S. Southern Command’s current campaign—Operation Southern Spear and the follow-up operations announced in August 2026—is the most aggressive federal counter-drug effort in the Caribbean in recent history. While there were strong counter-drug campaigns in the Caribbean in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained within the normal range of law-enforcement. To find an equivalent example of military lethal force targeting ships suspected of carrying contraband, we would have to go back to the Navy’s 10th century West Indies anti-piracy campaign. when Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony.
The Homeland Security Task Force in Puerto Rico combines DEA, HSI, FBI, Coast Guard, CBP, federal prosecutors, and Puerto Rico law-enforcement partners. These agencies work together to identify drug smugglers, sending them to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for prosecution. The Joint Interagency Task Force South in Florida also assists with finding and targeting drug traffic in Puerto Rico, but Operation Southern Spear has also attacked suspected drug-running ships in the Caribbean with lethal force.
