Since early September, the United States has launched a series of airstrikes in the Caribbean, targeting vessels used by drug traffickers. So far, at least 43 people have been killed (according to an AFP tally).
On October 24, the Pentagon announced that the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, would be deployed to support the operation “to reinforce existing capabilities and disrupt drug smuggling.”
However, several experts have questioned the legality of these US strikes.
Marta Hurtado Gomez, a spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, told AFP: “Under international human rights law, lethal force is only justified when an individual poses an imminent threat to the life of another.” “Otherwise, it would constitute a violation of the right to life,” she added. “Generally speaking, no one should be executed directly for drug-related crimes.”
Venezuelan authorities have accused Washington of attempting to undermine President Nicolás Maduro’s regime and claim to possess 5,000 portable anti-aircraft missiles to counter a possible US military attack. Celso Amorim, special adviser to Brazilian President Lula da Silva on foreign affairs, warned in an interview with AFP: “We cannot accept any form of external interference… This could detonate all of South America and trigger political radicalization across the continent.”
This article is excerpted from AFP
