US Rages! Days of Attacking Ships Here, Casualties Mounting
The escalation of US military actions in Latin America is intensifying after Washington’s military command launched another deadly strike against a ship accused of drug trafficking. This latest incident marks the fifth fatal attack by the US military in just five consecutive days.
The US Southern Command confirmed that it had carried out a lethal kinetic strike against a vessel operated by a designated terrorist organisation in the Eastern Pacific. However, the US military did not specify the name of the group targeted by the missile strike.
“Three narco-terrorists were killed in this action,” stated the official release from the US Southern Command via a post on social media platform X.
This series of air and sea strikes adds to the growing list of casualties from US military operations in the region. According to data compiled by AFP news agency, the total death toll from these anti-smuggling ship operations now stands at least 177 people.
Prior to this latest incident, the US military also reported sinking two ships in the Eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, accused of smuggling drugs. The attack killed a total of five people, leaving only one survivor.
The violence did not stop there, as Washington’s military struck again the following day, claiming the lives of four more people in a nearby location. The military asserts that these firm actions are part of efforts to protect national security from threats posed by international cartels.
The administration of President Donald Trump insists that it is effectively at war with what it calls “narco-terrorists” operating in Latin America. However, the US government has yet to provide definitive evidence that the targeted ships were indeed involved in drug trafficking.
The absence of such evidence has sparked fierce international debate regarding the legality of Washington’s military operations. International law experts and human rights groups argue that these strikes are likely extrajudicial killings.
This is based on the fact that the attacks appear to target civilians who pose no direct threat to the United States. In January, lawyers even filed a federal lawsuit against the US government on behalf of the families of two men from a fishing village in Trinidad who were killed in an October strike in the Caribbean.
“This planned and intentional killing has no reasonable legal justification,” reads the statement in the legal complaint that strongly opposes the US military actions in international waters.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has also strongly condemned the narrative constructed by the government regarding the profiles of the victims killed at sea. The organisation assesses that the government is spreading fear without clear basis regarding the identities of the victims.
“The government continues to make unsubstantiated claims and sow fear about who these people are, even though investigations show that some of those killed were fishermen simply trying to earn a living for their families,” the ACLU emphasised.
Similar concerns have been voiced by representatives of the Democratic Party, Joaquin Castro and Sara Jacobs, who wrote to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights last month. They raised alarms over these killings and highlighted the fact that the names and nationalities of most victims remain mysterious to this day.
These attacks on ships in Latin America continue unabated even as the US military’s focus is divided towards the Middle East. As is known, the US military is currently engaged in open warfare with Iran that has been ongoing for the past several weeks.