On Oct. 14, the United States struck another small boat in the Caribbean that was allegedly trafficking drugs from Venezuela, killing 6 people. This is the fifth attack against suspected drug-trafficking boats since a fleet of American warships was dispatched to waters off Venezuela in early September. In total, 27 people have been killed in the attacks.
President Trump has declared the U.S. to be in a “non-international armed conflict,” In January, he designated the Venezuelan cartel group Tren de Aragua a global terrorist organization.
These strikes targeting “narco-terrorists” are determined as extrajudicial killings by Human Rights Watch.
“I think this is unprecedented in the history of the U.S., and it’s unprecedented for military operations in the U.S.,” Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, director of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and professor of political science and global affairs, said.
Professor Pérez-Liñán explained how Article 3 of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 10, meanwhile, declares that everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him. Pérez-Liñán echoed the HRW’s conclusion that these attacks were extrajudicial killings.
“What those attacks in the Caribbean represent are executions of people without any due process,” Pérez-Liñán said. “The U.S. conducted an action that under our own law we would consider a violation of international law.”
Mary Ellen O’Connell, the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and concurrent professor of international peace studies, wrote in an article that “International law on the use of force leaves no room for using military force to kill individuals or groups suspected of crimes, any crimes, from terrorism to drug smuggling.”
As an expert on international law, she wrote in another article, “The Coast Guard has a series of successful Maritime Law Enforcement Agreements – known as Shiprider Agreements – with nations in the Caribbean and elsewhere. They commit U.S. authorities to respecting fundamental due process rights of criminal suspects. Such rights obviously do not include summary execution at sea,” O’Connell wrote. “The U.S. government is justifying its lethal destruction of a boat suspected of transporting illegal drugs in the Caribbean as an attack on ‘narco-terrorists.’”
Regarding the Trump administration’s decision to place cartels like Tren de Aragua on a foreign terrorist organization list, Pérez-Liñán explained how declaring a cartel as a terrorist organization “in and by itself does not carry an authorization to conduct military operations against that organization.”
Pérez-Liñán said since the U.S. is not involved in an armed conflict in the Caribbean, it has no jurisdiction or legal justification to conduct a military attack in the region. While it is plausible that the boats could have been carrying drugs, Pérez-Liñán said there are clear procedures for dealing with drug trafficking that do not include military attacks.
“Military vessels in the Caribbean will interdict those boats, document if they have drugs, arrest the people and confiscate the drugs, and establish due process,” Pérez-Liñán said.
Thomas Mustillo, an associate professor of global affairs, said the Trump administration has initiated a change in operations in the Caribbean.
“The strategy seems to have changed from law enforcement to military operations,“ he said. “It’s a posture of power and force, not diplomacy and cooperation.”
He continued by explaining how the amount of military force has led to speculation that the real goal is not to combat drug-trafficking, but instead to contribute to regime change.
“What people are noticing is an enormous buildup of US military resources in the region … in a way that is disproportionate for a drug interdiction campaign,” Mustillo said.
Explaining the political context of Venezuela, Mustillo described how the 2024 election is widely believed to have been stolen by Nicolás Maduro, the current president of Venezuela. This conclusion has been thoroughly studied by the opposition in Venezuela, whose leader, María Corina Machado, recently won the Nobel Peace Prize.
The current president and government are “not considered an accepted legal authority of Venezuela by many outsiders, including the U.S.,” Mustillo said.
While it is uncertain that the pressure will be enough to trigger a regime change, “It is quite possible that the military mobilization in the Caribbean is intended to send a signal to the Maduro regime that it’s under increasing pressure and therefore should relinquish power,” Pérez-Liñán said.
However, O'Connell said that this does not justify the U.S. military attacks as they are illegal under international law.
“Bypassing these bilateral and international treaties to dramatically blow up a ship not only violates law, but it will, I believe, further undermine trust and confidence in these or any other agreements the U.S. makes,” she wrote.
Over email, O’Connell contextualized what these attacks mean for the U.S. and international law: “President Trump has carried out the killing in such a dramatic way, he has brought world attention to a long-running and clear violation of the right to life. The question is now being asked: if a president can designate someone outside the U.S. for summary execution despite the law, why not at home?”
