Extrajudicial murder in the Caribbean?

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There is a lot to be alarmed with regard to the policies and practices of the current cabale in control of our government. The military saber of the Trump administration in the world seems to be the status quo, and it is nowhere more obvious than the last murderous spectacle in the Caribbean.

I started to follow the shaded movements of the United States on September 2. The deployment reports of the gunboat and other machos are heading for Venezuela and the Panama canal has not increased well.

Here are some of the initial reports:

Reuters reported that “The United States strengthens forces in the Caribbean as civil servants, experts, ask why“:

President Donald Trump said that the fight against drug cartels is a central objective for his administration and that US officials told Reuters that military efforts were aimed at responding to the threats of these cartels.

Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff of the White House, said on Friday that military accumulation was aimed at “fighting and dismantling drug trafficking organizations, criminal cartels and these foreign terrorist organizations in our hemisphere”.

But we do not know exactly how the American military presence would disrupt the drug trade.

Among other things, most of the maritime drug trade goes to the United States via the Pacific, not the Atlantic, where the American forces are located, and a large part of what happens via the Caribbean presents itself on clandestine flights.

Venezuelan officials believe that their government could be the real target.

In early August, the United States has doubled its award for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at $ 50 million for drug trafficking allegations and links with criminal groups.

CNN News 18 produced a report entitled “Trump’s gunshot diplomacy: Saber-dratling or prelude to the invasion?“”

While American warships carrying cruise missiles and marines propelled themselves to the coast of Venezuela this week, the supporters of the president of the South American country, Nicolás Maduro, warned an vile imperialist conspiracy for an Iraqi style invasion. Maduro thunders, calling on the patriots to help repel the supposed change of change by joining his “Bolivarian militia”. Donald Trump’s allies displayed incendiary messages on social networks, warning the Venezuelan autocrat at the end. “Your days are seriously counted,” proclaimed the former national security advisor to Trump, Michael Flynn, urging Maduro to buy “a single -way ticket to Moscow”.

Regardless of your political position on the Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, this last shit was alarming.

Then, the story changed spectacularly when the United States opened fire on a Venezuelan boat which, according to which they said, it was involved in drug trafficking. The Trump regime has openly celebrated the murder of 11 Venezuelans.

The answers to the killings were immediate. Alex Woodward raised the question of the legality of the attack for the self -employed in “Was the attack on Trump’s Venezuelan boat was a “war crime”? Experts say that extrajudicial killings violate international law“:

In a video published on the Truth social account of Donald Trump, Crosshairs hangs over a black and white image of a speed boat that cuts in the water. A few seconds later, the boat explodes in a flame ball.

The president said that the defense officials had strikes against 11 “terrorists” of the Venezuelan gang, Tren of Aragua, Tuesday morning in the context of the administration Climbing war against drug cartels.

Legal experts and former national security officials challenged the president’s legal authority to launch extrajudicial killings against alleged drug traffickers, which raises substantial questions both on the growing conflict of the administration with Venezuela and The president’s anti-immigration program.

“There is no evidence of self -defense here. It looks like a massacre of civilians at sea “,” According to Adam IsacsonDirector of Defense Surveillance at Research and Advocacy Group, Washington Office On Latin America. “Even if they had drugs on board, it is not a capital offense.”

The deadly force against civilians in international waters “is a war crime if not in self -defense”, “ According to Isacson. “” Not to give in to the pursuers “or” suspected of drug transport “does not carry a death sentence.”

Many social media accounts, including the one below, did not buy the Trump administration version of this parody

Secretary of State Marco Rubio intensified to co -shed this last contempt. Adam IsacsonDirector of Defense Surveillance at the Washington office on Latin America, had a very different catch:

The former executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, weighed at the Guardian: with “The murder by Trump of 11 alleged venezuelan drug traffickers establishes a dangerous precedent“:

Unless this dangerous precedent is condemned and restricted, it will allow the American authorities to briefly draw anyone who chooses

The American army murder 11 alleged Venezuelan Drug traffickers traveling by boat in international Caribbean waters are an illegal use of war powers to approach what should have been a situation of application of the law. Unless this dangerous precedent is condemned and restricted, it will allow the American authorities to briefly draw anyone who chooses by simply declaring a “war” against them.

Last month was reported that Donald Trump had signed a secret decree authorizing the Pentagon to use the military force against certain cartels of the Latin American drugs designated, saying that they were “terrorist” organizations. Tuesday, Trump wrote That on his orders, the army had targeted Tren of Aragua “narcoterrorists”, accusing them of “operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro”, the Venezuelan leader, and of being “responsible for the murder of mass, drug trafficking, sex trafficking and acts of violence and terrorization in the United States and the Western hemisphere”.

No attempt reported was made to ban and hold the cargo of people. The video accompanying Trump’s statement suggests that the boat was simply exploded. When asked why the boat was not arrested and its occupants arrested, Trump dodged the question and suggested That murders would force traffickers to think twice before trying to move drugs in the United States.

Under international norms For the police, the deadly force can be used only as a last resort to respond to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injuries. This rule is logical because law enforcement officials should normally seek to stop and continue criminal suspects. This is the best way to make sure they committed the offense in question. He also respects the fact that for most crimes, the sentence after conviction is a prison sentence, and not the death penalty – not to mention the summary murder without trial.

Trump sought to escape these standards by actually declaring war against Venezuelan drug cartels. Beginning With Richard Nixon in 1971, the American presidents referred several times to a “war against drugs”, but it was a metaphorical war, a rhetorical affirmation that the effort was important, not a literal war. The distinction is important, because in real armed conflicts, opposite fighters can Be briefly killed unless they go or in detention. There is generally no duty to try to capture or stop them.

There was nothing in the meeting in the Caribbean Sea which indicates a war. There is no indication that the alleged drug traffickers shot on American forces or were different from what could be described as a fight. The American army simply caused them to blow up the water. This wrongly applied the rules of war in what should have been a situation of application of the law.

The fact that Trump calls for drug trafficking suspects that “terrorists” do not modify the rules of law application. Terrorists are criminals, not fighters. In the absence of an imminent threat of death or a serious bodily injury, they must be arrested, not shot.

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg de Truthout questioned the video broadcast in an article entitled “Experts say that the Trump administration’s deadly boat attack is equivalent to extrajudicial murders“:

“Trump claims the right to lead extrajudicial assassinations,” published a lawyer for civil rights on X.

The Trump administration broadcast a brief black and white video which, according to her, shows the deadly strike. AP reports That the White House “did not immediately explain how the soldiers determined that those aboard the ship were members of Tren of Aragua”. The point of sale has also noted that the video “is not clear enough to see if the profession transports up to 11 people” and “has shown no large or clear drug hiding places inside the boat”.

Experts say that the fatal strike of the administration has violated international law.

“Labeling someone a terrorist and deploying the army does not make a military target,” said Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, in a press release Truth. “These actions constitute an extrajudicial murder, a violation of international law, which should raise extraordinary concerns.”

“Without clear limits on the presidential and military authority, we can find this administration claiming that it can execute alleged drug traffickers at home without any legal processes as occurred under the Duterte regime in the Philippines,” continued Warren.

Since I wrote this on Thursday, September 4 and this post will not publish before September 6, I will publish updates in the comments section below with the Hebdaylad Caribbean News Roundup. Please join me to discuss. Do you think they were extrajudicial murders?