admin
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reiterated that the military has the authority to destroy drug-trafficking vessels in South American waters. Speaking at the 4th Annual Northeast Indiana Defense Summit held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Hegseth also defended the Trump administration’s move to consider drug cartels as terrorist groups.
“We got lawyers on lawyers, all the authorities necessary to do so, treating these terrorists like the al-Qaida of the Western Hemisphere,” Hegseth said.
19 strikes, 76 deaths
His comments come against the backdrop of rising concerns over the legality of the military’s strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Pacific and in the Caribbean.
Since September, the US military has carried out 19 air strikes on 20 vessels, accused of trafficking drugs, and killing 76 people.
Countries stop sharing intel with US
Though the Trump administration has argued that the military action is necessary to curb the flow of drugs into the United States, Washington is increasingly becoming isolated globally over the issue.
While neighbouring countries, including Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela, have condemned the strikes, the UK and the Netherlands have stopped sharing intelligence with Washington about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because they believe the attacks are illegal.
The United States has publicly justified its actions as consistent with Article 51 of the founding UN Charter, which requires the UN Security Council to be immediately informed of any action states take in self-defence against armed attack.
While acknowledging the US justification for the strikes, a group of independent UN experts said last month: “Even if such allegations were substantiated, the use of lethal force in international waters without proper legal basis violates the international law of the sea and amounts to extrajudicial executions.”
Rubio to face questions from G7 foreign ministers
According to a Reuters report, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio may face questions from allies over the strikes during a meeting of G7 foreign ministers on maritime security in Canada on Wednesday.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Tuesday criticised US strikes.
“We have observed with concern the military operations in the Caribbean region, because they violate international law and because France has a presence in this region through its overseas territories, where more than a million of our compatriots reside,” Barrot said on the sidelines of the G7.
A senior European official on Wednesday said that the G7 meeting would be “the ideal place” for these concerns to be discussed, though it was not officially on the agenda.
“This is where we are supposed to exchange views on controversial issues – and what the US is doing in the Caribbean is concerning for everyone,” the European official was quoted as saying by Reuters.
