In the waters of the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, the United States has been waging a largely unseen campaign — 69 strikes over the past year, 231 lives ended — in the name of stopping the flow of narcotics northward. Saturday's strike, which killed four people aboard a vessel the military identified as a drug-smuggling boat, adds another chapter to a campaign that raises ancient questions about the weight of evidence required before a state takes a life, and who bears witness when it does not.
U.S. strike kills 4 in Caribbean as drug war toll reaches 231 deaths in 69 operations
Four people killed in the strike; at least 231 total deaths across 69 U.S. military strikes in Latin America over the past year.