Buckle up, folks—when the U.S. military targets narco-trafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific, the fallout is as murky as the ocean depths.
According to Fox News, on Tuesday, American forces launched strikes against three suspected drug-running ships, allegedly tied to designated terrorist groups, only to see the U.S. Coast Guard call off the search for survivors by late Friday.
These vessels, traveling as a convoy in international waters, were reportedly swapping narcotics between ships before the military swooped in with decisive action.
The initial strike took out the first vessel, with reports confirming three narco-terrorists killed in the engagement.
Those aboard the other two ships didn’t wait for round two—they abandoned ship before follow-on strikes sent their vessels to the ocean floor.
Yet, in a twist that raises eyebrows, the exact number of survivors who escaped remains a frustrating mystery.
The Coast Guard jumped into action by 3 p.m. on Tuesday after the Department of War reported people in the water, roughly 400 nautical miles southwest of the Mexico-Guatemala border.
With assets stretched thin due to distance and range limits, an HC-130J aircraft out of Sacramento scoured over 1,090 nautical miles under clear conditions—yet spotted neither survivors nor debris. Three additional vessels joined the effort, alongside urgent broadcasts to mariners, but all came up empty-handed in a search spanning more than 65 hours.
Teaming up with international rescue centers, Department of War partners, and the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue system, the Coast Guard pulled out all stops—except, apparently, the results.
On Wednesday, the tally of suspected narco-terrorists killed rose to five in strikes against two vessels linked to drug trafficking and terrorist outfits, reminding us that these operations carry a deadly cost.
"Suspending a search is never easy and given the exhaustive search effort, lack of positive indications and declining probability of survival, we have suspended active search efforts pending further developments," said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Patrick Dill, chief of incident management in the southwest district.
Let’s unpack that—Capt. Dill’s words sound reasonable, but they gloss over a bitter truth: when resources are this scarce, even the mightiest nation can’t save everyone.
"At this stage of the response, the likelihood of a successful outcome, based on elapsed time, environmental conditions, and available resources for a person in the water is very low," added Capt. Dill.
Translation: the clock and the ocean don’t care about intentions, and while the Coast Guard’s effort was valiant, it’s hard not to wonder if our priorities—chasing drug lords over saving lives—are misaligned in a world obsessed with progressive posturing over practical outcomes.