Trump Hails ‘Honor’ in Destroying Drug Submarine as US Expands Caribbean Campaign

President Donald Trump says two surviving “narcoterrorists” from a semi-submersible vessel destroyed by the U.S. military in the Caribbean will be sent back to Ecuador and Colombia, another flashpoint in his administration’s increasingly aggressive anti-drug campaign at sea.

“It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well-known narcotrafficking transit route,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, announcing the strike himself.

The president said U.S. intelligence confirmed the vessel was loaded with fentanyl and other narcotics. Two crew members were killed, while two others survived and were airlifted by U.S. forces to a nearby Navy warship. The men are now expected to be repatriated, though Ecuador’s government said it had not yet been informed of such plans.

Since September, at least six vessels, mostly speedboats, have been hit by U.S. forces in what the administration calls an ongoing operation to “disrupt cartel routes.” The confirmed death toll now stands at 29.

Trump has repeatedly defended the legality of the strikes, arguing that drug traffickers are “unlawful combatants” and that the U.S. is engaged in an armed conflict with narco-terrorist groups.

“The United States must act decisively to protect its people,” he said Friday.

Legal critics call the operations an overreach, questioning whether the U.S. can treat suspected smugglers as enemy soldiers without violating international law. The White House dismisses that, insisting the policy mirrors earlier post-9/11 counterterrorism frameworks.

The strike also comes amid a major military buildup in the Caribbean, destroyers, F-35 jets, even a nuclear submarine, as Washington tightens its grip on maritime routes it says are exploited by Venezuelan-linked traffickers.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called the attacks a “violation of sovereignty,” accusing the U.S. of fabricating a narco-terror narrative to justify regime change. Trump’s team calls that “nonsense,” framing the campaign as a necessary front line in the fight against fentanyl and cartel violence.

In Trump’s words, it’s “a war that must be fought to save American lives.”