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President Donald Trump said Saturday that the two survivors of a U.S. military strike on a suspected drug-carrying submersible in the Caribbean will be returned to Ecuador and Colombia, their home countries, for detention and prosecution.
The announcement came two days after the military destroyed the vessel — the sixth such attack since early September— in what the White House has described as part of a widening campaign against international drug cartels operating in the region.
“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 said in a Truth Social post. “U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics.”
Trump said two crew members were killed — one more than previously reported — and confirmed that the two survivors were rescued by U.S. forces before being handed over for repatriation.
Legal Questions Avoided by Repatriation
By sending the survivors home, the administration sidesteps potential legal challenges over whether foreign nationals captured during the operation would be treated as criminal defendants or enemy combatants under U.S. law.
The president’s confirmation brings the total death toll from U.S. military action against vessels in the Caribbean to at least 29 people since the campaign began.
Trump Asserts Wartime Authority Against Cartels
Trump has repeatedly defended the strikes, claiming the United States is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and citing the same legal authority the George W. Bush administration invoked to justify counterterrorism operations after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Under that framework, suspected traffickers are being treated as enemy combatants, allowing the U.S. military to target them outside the traditional justice system.
Administration officials have declined to say whether further maritime operations are planned, but sources familiar with the policy say additional strikes could come “within weeks.”
