The United States Army reported on Tuesday the death of four people after attacking a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, which it accused of being involved in drug trafficking operations.
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The operation was carried out by the Joint Task Force of the Western Hemisphere, recently created to coordinate actions against cartels in the region and composed of the 18 member countries of the Coalition Against the Cartels of the Americas.
“The Joint Task Force of the Western Hemisphere has carried out a lethal kinetic attack against a fast boat operating on drug trafficking routes established in the Caribbean,” reported the United States Southern Command (Southcom) on social media.
The military body claimed to have intelligence information confirming the vessel’s involvement in drug trafficking and stated that “the operation has resulted in the death of four narco-terrorists.”
The Southcom commander, General Francis Donovan, said the force “is determined to neutralize the terror and violence of the cartels throughout the region and on U.S. territory.”
He also stated that the new unit “continues to carry out precise and lethal operations against the cartels.”
The operation took place just two days after another U.S. attack on a vessel, this time in the eastern Pacific, which left two people dead.
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On that occasion, U.S. forces indicated that it was a vessel also traveling on routes used for drug trafficking and described its two occupants as “narco-terrorists.”
“When I ordered the creation of the Joint Task Force of the Western Hemisphere, it was precisely for this purpose: to accelerate, synchronize, and execute lethal actions against these destabilizing narco-terrorist networks,” Donovan said after that operation.
With both attacks, six people have died in the first two lethal operations attributed to the new joint force.
These actions add to the military campaign that the United States has been carrying out against vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. Considering the 67 attacks previously carried out, the total rises to 229 people killed.
The strategy of the Donald Trump administration has generated criticism from opposition sectors and human rights organizations, which accuse the U.S. government of carrying out extrajudicial executions.
The Executive, meanwhile, has informed Congress that the United States is in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels and considers the people killed as “illegal combatants.” Under that interpretation, it claims to have the authority to carry out lethal attacks without judicial oversight, based on a classified determination from the Department of Justice.
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