mexico city — Navy’s El Salvador and Mexico A Pacific drug seizure of more than 10 tons of cocaine was announced this week, in contrast to the deadly strikes launched by the US government just this week. It left 11 dead on three boats Suspected of drug smuggling in Latin American waters.
The latest announcement came on Thursday, when Mexico announced it had seized nearly four tons of suspected drugs and arrested three people on board a semi-submersible ship, 250 nautical miles (463 kilometers) south of the port of Manzanillo.
Mexican Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfush said on the X website that the seizure of the sleek, low-profile boat with three visible engines brought the weekly total to nearly 10 tons, but he did not provide details about other seizures.
Mexican authorities said the seizure was based on joint intelligence between the US Northern Command and the US Interagency Task Force South.
On Sunday, the Salvadoran Navy announced the largest drug seizure in the country’s history, amounting to 6.6 tons of cocaine. The Navy intercepted a 180-foot boat registered in Tanzania, 380 miles (611 kilometers) southwest of the coast. Navy divers found 330 packages of cocaine hidden in the boat’s ballast tanks. Ten men from Colombia, Nicaragua, Panama and Ecuador were arrested.
On Thursday, Salvadoran authorities allowed access to the detained ship FMS Eagle, which had just arrived at the port of La Union. More than 200 wrapped packages were lined up on the deck.
The Trump administration has pressured Mexico to seize more drugs over the past year. Trafficking of drugs such as fentanyl was the main justification for imposing tariffs on Mexican imports.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum She has responded with a more aggressive stance toward drug cartels than her predecessor, which included sending dozens of drug-dealing prisoners to the United States for prosecution.
Sheinbaum also expressed her disapproval of the strikes carried out by the US military in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific against boats suspected of carrying drugs.
At least 145 people have been killed in these attacks since the US government began targeting what it describes as “narco-terrorists” last September.
US strikes this week included two ships carrying four people each in the eastern Pacific Ocean and another boat in the Caribbean Sea carrying three people. The administration provided photos of the destroyed boats, but no evidence that they were carrying drugs.