U.S. kills 3 in strike on suspected Caribbean drug-smuggling boat - UPI.com
World News Sept. 10, 2026 / 2:24 AM
# U.S. kills 3 in strike on suspected Caribbean drug-smuggling boat
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Sept. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. military has attacked another boat in the Caribbean, killing three people, alleging the vessel was involved in narcotrafficking.
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The attack occurred Wednesday, the 69th publicly acknowledged strike in the Trump administration's yearlong military campaign that has killed at least 230 people whom the administration alleges were drug traffickers, though at least some of those killed are believed to have been civilians.
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As is the case with such strikes, little information was made public by U.S. Southern Command, which conducted the strike, and described the boat as a "go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean."
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"Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel's active involvement in narcotrafficking," it said, without providing proof.
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> On September 9, under the direction of #SOUTHCOM, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean. Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel's active involvement in... pic.twitter.com/B9Ec4bCepT— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) September 10, 2026
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The strike is the first this month and the third since attacks resumed in August following a two-month lull in attacks that began in late June.
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Unlike strikes conducted before the two-month pause, SOUTHCOM did not
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the vessel targeted
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two from late last month
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Trump administration has
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of the campaign
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The Trump administration has designated 21 Latin American drug cartels and gangs since February. On Wednesday, the same day as the latest strike, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Ecuadorean gang Los Tiguerones as both a foreign terrorist organization and a specially designated global terrorist.
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The strikes have attracted staunch criticism from Democrats as well as human and civil rights advocates who describe the attacks as extrajudicial killings and murder over the use of the military to conduct executions without charges being filed, let alone tried in court.
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, though its
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cartels and gangs that can be
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However, the anti-narcoterrorism campaign has shifted and expanded in recent months as the Trump administration has courted other countries to participate in joint military operations. While U.S. strikes have seemingly slowed, Rubio, speaking to reporters Wednesday in Ecuador, said other countries have also been conducting strikes.
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"We've been doing it now for over a year, and now the difference is that we're ... working alongside countries in the region, in their territorial waters," he said.
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Asked whether there was concern that fishermen had been killed in the strikes, Rubio replied that the goal is not to go after fishermen, but drug traffickers.
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"Our goal is not to go after fishermen; our goal is to go after drug traffickers. Our goal is to go after drug boats," he said.
# Opposition criticises end of Jamaica–Cuba medical cooperation, raises concerns about impact on health sector
Updated March 7 2026 3 min read
The Opposition says the decision by the Government to end more than 50 years of medical cooperation between Jamaica and Cuba marks a deeply unfortunate moment in the nation’s public health history.
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It argued that for more than half a century, Cuban medical professionals have served the people of Jamaica with dedication, compassion, and professionalism.
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“The medical cooperation between Jamaica and Cuba has been one of the most successful examples of bilateral collaboration in the Caribbean. It has helped address shortages in critical areas of healthcare and has ensured that many Jamaicans received care when our own system faced severe challenges,” he added.
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For her part
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, regional and diaspora affairs
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Senator Donna Scott-Mottley
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wants the Government to provide a full and detailed explanation regarding its decision to terminate the arrangement between Jamaica and Cuba.
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Scott-Mottley said the sudden conclusion of a partnership that has endured for more than 50 years raises serious questions that the Government must address.
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“An arrangement that has supported Jamaica’s healthcare system for half a century cannot simply come to an abrupt end without the Jamaican people being given a clear and comprehensive account of what has led to that outcome,” she said.
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“This is a matter that goes directly to the functioning of our healthcare system and the well-being of the Jamaican people. The Government has a duty to provide clarity on both the reasons for this decision and the arrangements that will now replace a partnership that has served the country for five decades,” she said.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday announced the discontinuation of Jamaica’s medical cooperation programme with Cuba, saying both governments were unable to agree on the terms and conditions of a new technical cooperation arrangement following the expiration of the previous agreement in February 2023.
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As a result, the country announced that it will withdraw its 277 medical professionals currently serving in Jamaica, a blow to the island, which sought to cushion the fallout from ending a 50-year cooperation programme that helped fill key gaps in the health system.
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In its statement, Havana said it “deeply regrets” the decision, arguing that it disregards “a history of fruitful and sustained collaboration” that has provided significant medical support to Jamaica’s public health system for decades.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently defended the Trump administration’s decision to deport an accused MS-13 gang member back to El Salvador. During a cabinet meeting at the White House, Rubio emphasized that the U.S. is actively seeking other countries to accept individuals from third countries who pose a threat to national security.
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“We are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries. So we are active, not just El Salvador,” Rubio stated. “We are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries.’”
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Rubio explained that this initiative is in the best interest of the United States, as it prevents dangerous individuals from reentering the country. “We do that as a favor to us, and the further away from America the better so they can’t come back across the border,” he said. “I’m not apologetic about it. We are doing that…[the] president was elected to keep America safe, and we get rid of a bunch of perverts and pedophiles and child rapists out of our country.”
The sweeping oil deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump to secure access for a century to more than 20% of Venezuela’s oil reserves appears far less ambitious when one digs into the details of how it is supposed to work. The opacity surrounding the announcement has been compounded by conflicting accounts from Washington and Caracas over the duration of the pact, the choice of a highly controversial partner in Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, and questions about the billions of dollars in promised investment, all of which have raised doubts about the deal’s viability and even its legality.
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Last week, executives from oil companies including Chevron and Italy’s Eni filed through Miraflores, the presidential palace in Caracas, to sign the first agreements. The companies have expanded projects they have been working on for years and adapted their contracts to the new rules established by the United States for Venezuela’s oil sector. The signing of the “historic agreement” between Delcy Rodríguez’s government and the White House on August 28 has not been made public.
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Héctor Obregón, president of the state-owned oil company PDVSA, said Monday that the oil agreement is trilateral and renewable for as long as necessary. “The contract has been signed for 25 years, but by mutual agreement it can be renewed for similar periods until it reaches whatever duration is deemed appropriate,” he said in an interview with a local radio station. “Let us hope, for Venezuela’s wellbeing, that oil remains a source of prosperity for the next 100 years,” Obregón added. The official’s qualification highlights some of the obstacles that could complicate the agreement’s implementation.
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For some experts, there is a strong element of political theater in the figures touted by Trump: 65 billion barrels of oil, $100 billion in investment, and $209 billion in royalties.
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“There were two different announcements. On the one hand, the White House leak to several outlets speaks of 100 years and concessions, access to oil at cost price and the participation of the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital with 35% of NABEP’s shares [Betancourt’s oil company], something the U.S. Congress has already said was not legally possible,” economist Francisco Monaldi points out.
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“And then there is what the Venezuelan government says. It is not 100 years but 25. The joint venture or PDVSA can grant a Production Sharing Contract in Hydrocarbons [CPPH] to a company so it operates the field and provides the capital in exchange for part of the production. And the state, via royalties, receives a payment,” he says. “Everything Trump says about the agreement is illegal or unconstitutional. But, at the same time, Venezuela’s anti-blockade law allows anything.”
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the Central University of Venezuela
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likewise believes that,
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“a monstrosity.”
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Hydrocarbons Law, it violates
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PDVSA’
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This oil belongs to future
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. Will this
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enormous legal vulnerabilities, and
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cannot predict higher investment or revenues because we do not
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many of the conditions
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NABEP’s ability to develop the 17 fields it has been awarded is also under scrutiny. The deal undoubtedly strengthens the Venezuelan company’s financing prospects, but the requirement to sell barrels to the United States at cost raises questions about the viability of the promised investments.
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Regarding the conditions imposed by Trump, PDVSA president Héctor Obregón clarified on Monday that part of the funds generated by the agreements will be transferred to accounts controlled by the U.S. Treasury Department “to protect them from creditors” seeking repayment of Venezuela’s massive debt, effectively extending Washington’s oversight of Delcy Rodríguez’s government. “But we administer the funds and issue the payment orders,” Obregón said.