US widens war on drug cartels with dozens of arrests, more deadly strikes at sea

The Trump administration is expanding its campaign against drug cartels, announcing major arrests in Puerto Rico and Ecuador as the U.S. military resumes lethal strikes against suspected drug-trafficking vessels at sea.

Attorney General Todd Blanche traveled to Puerto Rico Thursday to announce the latest enforcement actions, declaring the administration would “not let up until the job is done.”

Federal prosecutors charged 81 alleged members of Los Bajadeo, also known as LBD, a violent drug trafficking organization operating in western Puerto Rico. Seventy defendants were arrested this week.

Authorities accuse the organization of distributing cocaine, crack cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and marijuana beginning in 2021. Prosecutors say the group was responsible for distributing at least 340 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics and at least 2,200 kilograms of cocaine, generating an estimated $49 million in proceeds.

“Taking the fight to the cartels with unprecedented force and efficiency makes clear that we, along with our international partners, have zero tolerance for criminal activity,” Blanche said.

The administration is also expanding its cooperation with governments across Latin America.

In Ecuador, U.S. and Ecuadorian authorities conducted an operation targeting Los Choneros and Los Lobos, two powerful criminal organizations accused of moving drugs throughout the region. Blanche said the operation resulted in 26 arrests and the seizure of a metric ton of cocaine, roughly $1 million in U.S. currency, dozens of firearms and vehicles and an airplane.

“The Trump administration is committed to deploying truly innovative and never-before-used approaches and partnerships to eliminate drugs, cartels and violent crime,” Blanche said.

The renewed push is also playing out at sea.

After a pause of more than two months, the U.S. military carried out two strikes against suspected drug-trafficking vessels within days of each other.

The first targeted a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing two people U.S. Southern Command described as “narco-terrorists.” Two days later, U.S. forces struck another vessel traveling along what SOUTHCOM called an established drug-trafficking route in the Caribbean, killing four people.

The military said intelligence confirmed the vessels were involved in narcotics trafficking.

Since the maritime campaign began nearly a year ago, at least 227 people have been killed in 68 reported U.S. military strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats.

The administration argues the combination of military force, law enforcement operations and international partnerships is putting greater pressure on criminal organizations throughout the Western Hemisphere. But how much the strikes at sea have disrupted the overall flow of illegal drugs into the United States remains unclear.