According to Hegseth, American intelligence earlier linked both boats to drug smuggling. The units were supposed to transport narcotic drugs and moved along a route considered to be one of the main transfer routes in the region.
However, the Pentagon has not presented public evidence of the presence of drugs on the sunken vessels or their formal links to cartels.
Sunday's strikes are part of a months-long campaignwhich Washington presents as an effort to reduce the flow of drugs into the United States. As reported, the US military has so far carried out 19 attacks in which 20 boats were destroyed and a total of 76 people died. Three people survived earlier operations: two were briefly detained by the US Navy and returned to their countries of origin, and one person is missing and presumed dead after a search by the Mexican Navy.
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Sometimes it's hard to get verification
Administration representatives, questioned by Congress, admitted that they did not always verify the identity of all people on board before strikes. Decisions about attacks are made based on intelligence information that link specific individuals with cartels or organized crime.
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According to reports provided to parliamentarians, Donald Trump's administration recognizes that the United States has been in an armed conflict with drug cartels since the first attack on September 2, and refers to those killed as illegal combatants.
This approach raises objections from some members of Congress and human rights organizations. Critics they argue that alleged smugglers should be detained and brought to justicein line with the current practice of interdiction used by the US before President Trump took office. They also point to the lack of public materials confirming that the attacked units transported drugs and that they were clearly associated with cartels.
Authorities maintain that the legal basis for using lethal force without judicial review is a classified opinion from the Justice Department. Its content has not been made public, which further fuels the dispute over the transparency and proportionality of actions and the legal status of people killed at sea.
The US military reports that no American soldiers have been injured during the strikes so far. Details about Sunday's operation, including the exact location of the strikes and the identities of the victims, have not been made public.
