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US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Photo via AP - Hasnoor HussainTHERE were mixed local views on the latest US military kinetic strike on an alleged drug vessel in the southern Caribbean Sea, about whether this means the US military deployment which began in the region in August is an anti-narcotics exercise or a prelude to a larger military operation against Venezuela.
In a post on X on November 1, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a US military strike on an alleged drug vessel in the southern Caribbean which killed three people.
“Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Caribbean."
Hegseth said the three victims in this attack were "narco terrorists" and no US forces suffered casualties.
He added the boat was “carrying narcotics” and “transiting along a known narco-trafficking route."
Hegseth said the strike took place in international waters.
This attack marks the 15th known US military strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel since the Trump administration began the operations in early September. The strikes, which have been carried out in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean, have killed a total of 64 people.
The November 1 strike has continued to fuel debate locally about whether the US military deployment in the southern Caribbean Sea is really about drug interdiction.
Asked to comment about the strike on November 2, Defence Minister Wayne Sturge said, "Without being privy to the intel in the bosom of the US, I am unable to express an opinion either way."
Since the deployment began two months ago, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has repeatedly supported the US position that the deployment is an anti-narcotic exercise.
Asked if government is holding to this position, Sturge said,"Until we have hard evidence to the contrary." Persad-Bissessar has also publicly supported all the strikes against alleged drug vessels in the southern Caribbean since the US military deployment began.
Former caricom and foreign affairs minister Dr Amery Browne said TT cannot control or direct the US' actions.
"What we are in control of, and what we would be held accountable for, is our own actions and our utterances and declarations as a sovereign nation and member state of the Caribbean Community."
Browne recalled that two months ago at a news conference, he and Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles warned Persad-Bissessar that her "official and enthusiastic public support of these extrajudicial executions at sea puts this nation in direct conflict with the tenets of international law and maritime law."
He said, "I drew reference to matters currently before the International Criminal Court, including the case against a former president of the Philippines who is charged pursuant to extrajudicial killings committed during an unprecedented 'war on drugs' in that country."
Browne said, "Our Prime Minister seems to be impervious to good advice, and spurred on by some clueless ministers she has continued to associate herself with these killings and to throw up inflammatory rhetoric against Caricom and other proponents of the UN Charter and the Zone of Peace."
Persad-Bissessar, in her support of the US military deployment, has publicly rejected the position taken by other Caricom leaders that the Caribbean be maintained as a zone of peace. She did so at the start of the deployment in August, at the UN General Assembly in September and in response to a Caricom statement last month that called for a deescalation of US-Venezuela tensions in the region.
Former national security commissioner and police commissioner Gary Griffith said it is impossible for anyone to determine exactly what is the rationale behind the US military strikes against these vessels.
"All of these actions by the US. It is outside of our territorial waters. It is outside of our exclusive economic zone. That is 200 miles out."
Griffith, a former TT Regiment captain, said, " So we absolutely have no knowledge of what evidence, of what intelligence the US has or they don't have."
He said comments that will be made by everyone else on this issue, pro or anti-US, will be based on personal belief and perception
Griffith added this can result in a person being viewed as a hero for fighting drug cartels or as "a killer and someone who is involved in extrajudicial assassinations."
He said this is something TT is not involved in and the US is not obligated to provide TT with information about this matter..
Griffith added he is not justifying what the US is doing.
He repeated the comments being made by other people on this issue suggests a lack of understanding of how law enforcement works. Griffith said it is inaccurate to suggest one must have evidence beyond a shadow of a doubt about the nature of a threat before action is taken to neutralise that threat.
"If you are a police officer and somebody is challenging you and threatening you and he puts his hand in his pocket and he draws...the police officer fires...it can very well be justified."
Griffith said, "That pertains all over the world, as it pertains to law enforcement and that is also minimum use of force."
The former National Transformation Alliance (NTA) political leader said, "If I was prime minister of TT and my intelligence agencies for example, gave me enormous information to state that they believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there is a vessel now leaving somewhere on the mainland where it is coming to TT and it has explosives that can kill tens of thousands of citizens and once that lands, we will not be able to find it and it can cost lives...I am going to make the decision to press that button and eliminate whoever that is."
Former foreign affairs minister Winston Dookeran expressed his view on this matter by referring to a statement by UN High Commissioner High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk that the US strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific are illegal.
He said even in the US, there are calls for transparency and authorisation about these attacks.
Dookeran said he agreed with the view that the escalation of these attacks is worrisome and ordinary citizens cannot separate fact from fiction. He also agreed the question of whether these attacks are really about drug interdiction is valid.
Caribbean Policy Consortium co-chairman Prof Anthony Bryan said, "The strikes on the boats are a prelude to targeted strikes on land.
He added, "The US intends to terrorize (Venezuelan President Nicolas) Maduro to get him to leave. They also hope to have the Venezuelan military turn against him. But he will not go and they (Venezuelan military) will not turn."
International relations expert Prof Andy Knight said the November 1 strike, raises serious concerns that Trump is engaged in extrajudicial murder which is a blatant violation of international law.
"As an international relations specialist, I am very concerned that the current US government’s military actions in the Caribbean Sea, as well as in the Pacific Ocean, are bypassing due process."
Knight said, "Lethal force should not be used outside a conflict zone without proper judicial oversight."
The US, he continued, has failed to produced credible evidence of any threat to America stemming from these small crafts.
Knight said, "The US Congress has not declared war against the countries from whence these boats came."
He was concerned that a line was being crossed now.
"Sixty-one people have been killed by the Trump administration in boats connected to Venezuela, connected to Colombia, involving nationals from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and TT.
Knight said, "While the justification for these killings is usually in reference to what is known as 'the laws of armed conflict.' Serious legal questions are being raised as to whether there is a declared armed conflict with the countries from whence these murdered individuals are citizens."
While the US may dismiss rulings of an international court on this issue, Knight added, "It has to contend with the UN Charter, which, of course, the United States led the world in drafting."
Criminologist Darius Figuera said, "The burning question is what is the nature of the present cocaine trade from Latin America through the Caribbean to America?"
He claimed the US cocaine market has been collapsing before Trump won last November's US presidential election.
"The leading drug of choice in America is now crystal methamphetamine (meth), which has gripped the American white heartland in a stranglehold that cocaine/crack never did."
Figuera said meth is made in Mexico and smuggled into the US. He added it is also made in the US.
"The US military is in the Caribbean engaging with a mythic enemy. To what end?"
Figura said, " The only logical end is a proxy war with China and Russia using regime change in Venezuela as leverage."
He warned this is a "dangerous game that has the potential to do grave damage to TT."
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English (US) ·