US military to move survivors of strike on alleged drug boat in Caribbean to nearby countries | Trump administration
The Trump administration is moving to send two survivors of Thursday’s attack in the Caribbean abroad instead of long-term military detention, four U.S. officials and a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity like US officials, said the survivors were sent to Colombia and Ecuador.
The US military organized a helicopter rescue operation for survivors on Thursday following an attack on a semi-submersible ship suspected of smuggling illegal drugs. Two other crew members on the ship also died in the attack, sources told Reuters on Friday.
The U.S. military flew the survivors to a U.S. Navy warship in the Caribbean, where they were detained until at least Friday evening. As of Saturday morning, it was unclear whether they had flown off the ship.
U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expected the survivors to eventually be returned to their home countries.
Legal experts say the decision to send the survivors home means the U.S. military will not have to grapple with thorny legal issues surrounding military detention of suspected drug traffickers whose alleged crimes do not fully fall within the laws of war.
Speaking on Friday, Trump told reporters that the attack was on “a drug-carrying submarine that was specifically built to transport large amounts of drugs.”
He did not comment on how many people died or survived in the attack.
So far, the Pentagon has not offered any details about the attack and did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration said 27 people were killed in the previous attacks, raising alarm among some legal experts and Democratic lawmakers who questioned whether they complied with the laws of war.
The attacks come as Trump escalates tensions with the Venezuelan government, against the backdrop of a US military buildup in the Caribbean that includes guided missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and about 6,500 troops.
On Wednesday, Trump announced that he had authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, fueling speculation in Caracas that the United States was trying to oust Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro has denied any involvement in drug trafficking and condemned the US boat attacks as a pretext for regime change, citing them as violations of sovereignty and international law.
In a letter sent this week to the United Nations’ 15-member security council and seen by Reuters, Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, asked the UN to rule that US incursions on its coast are illegal and to issue a statement supporting Venezuela’s sovereignty.
