This screengrab taken from a video posted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, shows two boats shortly before they are struck by a missile, in the Eastern Pacific on October 27, 2025. In his post, Hegseth said that US military forces struck these boats and two others, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor. Pete Hegseth/X

The Pentagon has deliberately shifted its strategy in recent weeks to striking suspected narcotraffickers in the eastern Pacific Ocean, rather than the Caribbean Sea, because administration officials believe they have stronger evidence linking cocaine transport to the US from those western routes, according to people familiar with the matter,

The intelligence suggests that cocaine is far more likely to be trafficked from Colombia or Mexico, rather than Venezuela, th

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