Officials say survivors of airstrike on alleged drug boat in the Caribbean are being held aboard a US Navy ship | US Army
The United States has arrested survivors of a military strike on a suspected drug ship in the Caribbean, the first since Donald Trump began launching deadly attacks in the region last month, according to officials in Washington.
Thursday’s attack is believed to be at least the sixth attack in the waters off Venezuela since early September, and the first to result in the recovery of survivors by the US military. It was not immediately clear what would be done with the survivors, who officials said were being held aboard a US Navy ship.
They confirmed the strike on the condition of anonymity because it has not yet been publicly acknowledged by the Trump administration.
This attack, which occurred on Thursday, brings the death toll as a result of US military action against ships in the region to at least 28 people.
Trump justified the strikes by asserting that the United States was engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority that the Bush administration used when it declared a “war on terror” after the attacks of September 11, 2001. This includes the ability to arrest and detain combatants and use lethal force to eliminate their leaders.
Legal scholars say the president’s use of overwhelming military force to fight the cartels, coupled with his agreement to carry out covert action inside Venezuela, possibly to oust the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, exceeds the bounds of international law.
Survivors of this strike now face an uncertain future and legal landscape, including questions about whether they are now considered prisoners of war or defendants in a criminal case. The White House did not comment on the strike.
Juanita Gubertos Estrada, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, said the attacks violate international human rights law and amount to extrajudicial executions.
“The United States is not engaged in armed conflict with Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, or with the criminal groups allegedly involved. Under the standards of human rights law, officials involved in law enforcement must seek to minimize injury and preserve human life. They may use deadly force only when absolutely unavoidable to protect against an imminent threat of death or serious injury.
“In various recent strikes carried out in the Caribbean, the US authorities made no effort to minimize the damage and did not seek to prove that the individuals on board the ships posed any imminent threat to life,” she said.
The strikes come against the backdrop of the US military buildup in the Caribbean, which includes guided missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine, and about 6,500 soldiers, at a time when Trump is escalating the confrontation with the Venezuelan government.
Trump revealed on Wednesday that he had allowed the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, raising speculation in Caracas that the United States was trying to oust Maduro.
The strikes in the Caribbean region have alarmed Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, with some Republicans saying they did not receive enough information about how the strikes were carried out. Senators’ classified briefing on the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month did not include representatives of the intelligence agencies or military command structure of South and Central American countries.
However, most Senate Republicans stood behind the administration last week when a war powers resolution was introduced, which would have required the administration to obtain congressional approval before launching further strikes.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed reporting