secretary of war Peter Heggs The Department of War (DOW) is establishing a new counternarcotics joint task force in the Caribbean, it was announced on Friday.

Hegseth said the task force’s goal is to “disrupt drug cartels, stop narcotics, and keep America safe. The message is clear: If you smuggle drugs to our shores, we will stop you.”

The working group is being initiated along the following lines: president donald trumpIn the SOUTHCOM region, which covers the Caribbean and Latin America, he said.

US shoots down another drug-trafficking vessel near Venezuela, killing 4

The War Department is establishing a new joint counternarcotics task force in the Caribbean, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Friday. (Reuters/Elisabeth Franz)

The task force will be established on Friday under the leadership of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force “to synchronize and enhance counternarcotics efforts across the Western Hemisphere,” U.S. Southern Command said in a release.

“Transnational criminal organizations threaten the security, prosperity, and health of our Western Hemisphere,” Gen. Alvin H. Holsey, commander of Southern Command, said in a statement. “By forming a joint task force around II MEF headquarters, we work with U.S. and partner nation counterparts to increase our ability to detect, disrupt and dismantle illicit trafficking networks faster and more deeply.”

Trump orders ‘lethal kinetic strike’ on drug-trafficking ship in international waters, killing three

This was when the government came into power attack ships Alleged links to drug trafficking networks in the Caribbean.

The government has carried out a series of deadly attacks over the past few months on four small boats believed to be carrying drugs.

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that on September 19 he ordered a deadly attack on a vessel associated with a designated terrorist group operating in the U.S. Southern Command area of ​​responsibility. (@realDonaldTrump via Truth Social)

21 people were said to have been killed in the attack.

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The attacks alarmed Democratic lawmakers because the administration did not detail evidence against the targeted ships or their passengers.