US military says it killed four more people in a boat strike in the eastern Pacific | US military
The US military said it killed four more people in a boat attack in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, the third deadly attack on ships in the region in four days.
US Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, announced the killings on social media. to mailWithout providing evidence, he claimed that the people killed were “narcotic terrorists”.
Boat attacks by the US military are now was killed At least 174 people since September.
Military officials have consistently claimed that the targets of deadly boat attacks were “involved in drug smuggling operations” but have not offered intelligence or specific details about individuals to support these claims.
Legal experts and human rights advocates have repeatedly condemned the strikes as extrajudicial killings. violate U.S. and international law say the military cannot execute civilians it accuses of crimes.
U.S. Southern Command’s post on Tuesday included another blurry aerial video showing a boat exploding and included a statement claiming “intelligence confirmed the ship was transiting known drug smuggling routes.”
The announcement used nearly identical language to the military’s alert on Monday that two people had been killed in a boat attack. On Sunday, U.S. Southern Command said five people were killed and one survived in explosions on ships.
Donald Trump has Tried to legitimize the attacks Claiming to be the USA engaged It is in “armed conflict” with Latin American cartels. However, United Nations officials said: international humanitarian law He noted that the United States does not allow the killing of people accused of drug trafficking and that the military has not presented evidence that the people on the targeted boats posed an imminent threat to the lives of others.
In January, lawyers filed a federal lawsuit against the United States on behalf of the families of two men from a Trinidadian fishing village killed in an attack on a small boat in the Caribbean in October, saying the “premeditated and willful murders lack any reasonable legal justification.”
“The administration continues to push false, fear-mongering claims about who these individuals were, despite research showing that some of those killed were fishermen simply trying to make ends meet for their families,” the American Civil Liberties Union said. in question In December.
The ACLU wrote that he was trying to set a precedent that the president could redefine civilians as “combatants” and “act as if he had the authority to grant federal officials prior immunity to kill people.”
Last month, Democratic representatives Joaquin Castro and Sara Jacobs wrote to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights raising alarm about the killings, noting that the names and nationalities of most victims were unknown.
“Each murder occurred outside of any recognized armed conflict and without due process. We agree with the overwhelming consensus of legal experts: the administration is engaged in a prolonged campaign of extrajudicial killings, or simply murder,” the members of Congress said. wrote.
