US kills 14 people in three strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats

14 people were killed and one of the survivors were killed in the three additional attacks on boats alleged to have been involved in illegal narcotic trafficking in the waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, according to the United States.

In a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday morning, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth described the strikes as a “national security measure.”

“Over the past two decades, the Department has defended other countries. We are now defending our rights, Hegseth wrote.

However, the bombing campaign has been criticized as a form of extrajudicial killing and a global law violation.

Hegseth explained in his post that all three airstrikes occurred on Monday. One missile struck two boats as they were floating, causing both to become engulfed in flames in the accompanying video.

At the time of the initial strike, eight men were aboard the pair of ships. A second attack hit a boat with three people and a small boat with four men in it.

Which of the three attacks had a survivor in the first instance was unknown. Hegseth did point out that Mexican authorities were directing search-and-rescue missions.

No one of the victims was identified, and no evidence was presented to the public to refute the claims of drug trafficking.

increasing attacks

The first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day was with the string of attacks on Monday.

A survivor has also been confirmed for the second time since September 2 when the bombing campaign first commenced.

Two survivors, both of whom were repatriated to their home countries on October 16, were reportedly left by another strike.

One, named Andres Fernando Tufino, was unarmed and released in Ecuador. Jeison Obando Perez, the other, is still in a Colombian hospital.

The total number of deaths that have been reported from Monday’s strikes is 57. 14 maritime vessels were targeted, the majority of them small boats, in the course of the two-month-long campaign, which included at least 13 airstrikes.

However, it seems as though the attacks are moving faster. The US announced 10 additional attacks this month after bombing three vessels in September.

Six attacks occurred in the last week, including those on October 21, October 22, and overnight on October 24 due to the string of attacks that occurred on Monday.

The recent bombing campaign is necessary, according to US President Donald Trump’s administration, to stop illegal drugs from entering US soil.

However, international experts and human rights organizations have warned that missile attacks are against international law, including the UN Charter.

Non-combatants can typically not be used lethal military force against them outside of a conflict. Additionally, critics have criticized the decision to bomb the boats’ intended US destinations.

This month, Miroslav Jenca, the UN’s assistant secretary-general for the Americas, addressed the UN Security Council, “We continue to emphasize the necessity for all efforts to combat transnational organized crime to be conducted in accordance with international law.”

However, the Trump administration has started referring to drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations” in Latin America.

In a “non-international armed conflict,” the US president wrote a memo to Congress in September, claiming that he thought drug dealers were “unlawful combatants.”

However, legal experts have doubted that justification because drug trafficking is viewed as a criminal offense rather than a violent act.

US Congress tenses

Trump’s campaign to bomb the United States and the US military’s expansion in the Caribbean Sea have also raised domestic legal concerns.

The US Constitution’s Article 1 gives Congress exclusive authority to declare war.

The president has been given executive authority to engage in in-depth military combat, but the War Powers Resolution Act of 1973 mandates that Congress receive a report on those actions within 48 hours. Additionally, it restricts the scope and duration of such actions without congressional approval.

Critics worry that the Trump administration will soon start launching more military operations in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific, as well as along Venezuela’s and Colombia’s coasts.

Trump has asserted on numerous occasions that launching such attacks requires no authorization from the Congress.

“I don’t believe we’ll have to request a declaration of war.” I believe that we will simply murder those who enter our nation with drugs. OK? On October 23, he declared to a reporter that we would kill them.

The Caribbean and Pacific airstrikes coincide with the region’s growing military presence.

The Pentagon made the announcement last week that it would send the USS Gerald R Ford carrier group, which will include naval destroyers and an air wing, to South American waters.

On Capitol Hill, Trump’s actions have sparked bipartisan concern. For instance, Kentucky’s Republican Senator Rand Paul has repeatedly referred to the military strikes as “extrajudicial killings.”

Democratic Senator Mark Kelly claimed in an interview with the ABC News program This Week on Sunday that the Trump administration had not adequately justified the strikes.

“This is legal, but the White House and the Department of Defense were unable to provide a logical explanation.” They were trying to explain this in vain, he claimed.

Kelly acknowledged that the White House had some evidence of drug trafficking, but he argued that it was insufficient and did not cover all deadly boat bombings.

He claimed that “we were given some evidence that does not support the narrative the White House is telling to the American people.”

The recent wave of boat strikes have been confined to the US Congress’s limited efforts so far.

For instance, Democratic Rep. Jason Crow introduced a resolution that needed congressional approval in September.

However, it has not yet been put to a vote on the resolution. A similar attempt earlier this month that would have required Congress’s consent to continue strikes was rejected by the Senate.

Without the consent of Congress, President Trump is not able to launch military strikes in the Caribbean or anywhere else.

Foreign policy expert Matthew C. Waxman wrote for the Council on Foreign Relations this month to remind them that the US has not yet taken a decisive course to stop the bombing campaign.

In an article published on October 15th, Waxman wrote that lawmakers are still facing a backlash against the Trump administration because “Congress continues to be the most crucial check on the president.”

Source: Aljazeera