The United States has seized survivors from a military strike on a suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean, marking the first such incident since Donald Trump launched a campaign of deadly attacks in the region last month, according to Washington officials.
President Trump confirmed the attack, telling reporters that the vessel was a narco-submarine. “We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs,” he said. Colombian drug lords have used such semi-submersibles to smuggle cocaine towards Mexico and the US since the 1980s.
Thursday’s strike is believed to be at least the sixth since early September and the first to yield survivors, who are being held on a US Navy vessel. The death toll from the US military action against vessels in the region now stands at least 28. The survivors face an uncertain legal status, with questions over whether they are prisoners of war or criminal defendants.
Trump has justified the strikes by asserting the US is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on legal authority similar to that used after the 9/11 attacks. Legal scholars say this stretches international law, and Human Rights Watch’s Americas director, Juanita Goebertus Estrada, described the attacks as extrajudicial executions. “The US made no effort to minimise harm,” she said.
The strikes come alongside a US military buildup in the Caribbean, including guided missile destroyers, F-35 jets, a nuclear submarine, and about 6,500 troops, as Trump escalates a standoff with Venezuela. He also disclosed authorising CIA covert operations inside the country.
