By Isabella McHugh
Staff Writer
The United States carried out its fifth bombing on Caribbean waters, killing six people according to the New York Times.
President Donald Trump announced these bombings have been taking place since the beginning of September. The target was a vessel from Venezuela that contained alleged drug traffickers. He did not specify which group they were associated with.
Four other strikes took place before this, with the first being on Sept. 2, leaving 11 people dead. The second strike took place on the 15th, leaving three dead. The third strike took place on the 19th, which also left three dead. The fourth attack was on Oct. 3, and killed four people.
On Oct. 14, President Trump stated, “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics,” and it “was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks,” according to the New York Times. He said the strikes were on international waters, and that U.S. Forces were safe.
Attorney George Conway, former Republican, stated, “That’s 27 lives taken without even a semblance of a legal justification under domestic or international law.”
In response to the commotion, Trump’s officials said that they were only acting in self-defense to protect the United States from drug trafficking. The bombings have occurred frequently this past month, with each one tiptoeing around the line of illegality.
Many maritime law experts have claimed that the United States’ actions might have violated the laws after BBC interviewed them.
Prof. Luke Moffett of Queen’s University Belfast claimed that the United States acted illegally since the use of violence on seas must only be used “in self-defense where there is immediate threat of serious injury or loss of life to enforcement officials.”
Trump believes the group was targeting the U.S and that the strike was necessary.
He released an unclassified video of the strike which depicted black and white footage of a boat floating in the ocean and then a big explosion moments later.
“Unlike some previous announcements, the president did not identify the nationality of the people who were killed or name a specific drug cartel or criminal gang with which they were supposedly associated,” wrote the New York Times.
Regarding Venezuela, President Trump stated that the U.S. “gets something way worse” than drugs. “They send their criminals into the United States, and they send [prison gang] Tren de Aragua.” He later added, “they emptied their prisons into the United States. They empty their mental institutions into the United States,” according to the New York Post.
Despite the mention of that particular gang in his commentary, Trump never mentioned the vessel targeted in the fifth strike was a part of that cartel.
The legal debate surrounding the strikes continues. There is the possibility of further strikes made by U.S. Forces as there have already been five in less than a two-month timespan.
