U.S. Strikes Narco-Terror Vessel; Trump Cuts Off Aid to Colombia
The U.S. military struck and destroyed a drug-smuggling vessel tied to the Colombian rebel group ELN, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Sunday, as President Donald Trump simultaneously moved to suspend U.S. aid to Colombia amid mounting frustration over the country’s handling of narcotics production.
Hegseth said the Department of War carried out a lethal strike on a vessel in international waters on Friday after intelligence linked it to the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN). “The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics,” he said. Three men aboard the vessel were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed, Hegseth added.
On October 17th, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, that was operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.
The… pic.twitter.com/1v7oR879LC
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 19, 2025
Calling the Latin American drug cartels “the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere,” Hegseth said the United States will treat them like terrorist organizations — hunted and, if necessary, targeted with lethal force. The strike follows the recent establishment of a new counter?narcotics task force the secretary set up to target cartel operations across Latin America and the Caribbean.
The ELN, designated a foreign terrorist organization by U.S. authorities, is one of Colombia’s largest insurgent groups and is known for financing operations through drug production and trafficking. U.S. officials have long accused the group of using violence, extortion, and kidnappings to control coca-growing regions.
The military action comes as President Trump announced he is cutting off foreign aid to Colombia, accusing Bogotá of failing to combat drug production. “They don’t have a fight against drugs. They make drugs. They refine drugs. They have cocaine factories,” Trump said Sunday night. “I’m stopping all payments to Colombia because they don’t have anything to do with their fight against drugs.”
The moves are the latest in a stepped-up U.S. campaign to disrupt drug flows heading to American shores, a policy the administration has defended as necessary to protect public safety. Colombian officials have not yet issued a formal response to the aid suspension or the strike.