WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that the U.S. military has carried out three strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean on four boats accused of carrying drugs, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor on the deadliest single day since the Trump administration began its campaign against drug trafficking in the waters off South America.

It was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day as the pace of the attacks has escalated. The nearly two-month campaign and U.S. military buildup have strained ties with allies in the region and opened speculation that the moves are aimed at ousting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the U.S. has accused of narco-terrorism.

A statement provided by a Pentagon official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the operation, said the strikes were conducted off the coast of Colombia on Monday. Following one attack on a boat, the military spotted a person in the water clinging to some wreckage.

The military passed the survivor’s location to the U.S. Coast Guard and a Mexican military aircraft that was operating in the area, the official said.

Hegseth said Mexican search and rescue authorities “assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue” of the sole survivor but didn’t say if that person was successfully rescued or would stay in Mexico’s custody or be handed over to the U.S.

Mexico’s navy still was attempting a search and rescue operation, the military said in a statement Tuesday, a day after the strikes occurred. The American attacks drew renewed criticism from the regional ally.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference that she asked the foreign affairs secretary and the navy to meet with the U.S. ambassador in Mexico to discuss the issue because “we do not agree with these attacks.”

“We want all international treaties to be respected,” she said.

The strikes also have strained ties with other historic allies like Colombia, a country whose intelligence is crucial to American anti-narcotics operations in the region. In an escalating clash between the Republican U.S. president and Colombia’s first leftist leader, the Trump administration imposed sanctions last Friday on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his family and a member of his government over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade.

In a strike earlier this month with two survivors, the U.S. military rescued the pair and repatriated them to Colombia and Ecuador. Authorities released the Ecuadorian man after prosecutors said they had no evidence he committed a crime in Ecuador.