The United States has carried out its 47th strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel, killing four people, as part of the ongoing Operation Southern Spear in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

Since the campaign began in September, approximately 163 people have died, with only three survivors recovered, and critics accuse the strikes of extrajudicial killings and violations of international law.

SOUTHCOM claims the attacks target vessels operated by “Designated Terrorist Organizations,” but families in Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago say many victims were fishermen or informal workers, not criminals.

Legal experts and human rights officials have condemned the campaign, highlighting incidents such as “double-tap” strikes on survivors and potential disguising of military aircraft as civilian planes, Al-Jazeera has reported.

The Donald Trump administration defends the strikes as necessary to combat drug trafficking, while lawsuits and complaints to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights challenge their legality and demand accountability.