St Vincent PM raises concern over deadly US drug strike

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Godwin Friday on Thursday said that the recent United States military action against alleged illegal drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea, which reportedly left at least three people dead and believed to be from Saint Lucia, is a matter of concern.

Speaking in an interview broadcast on the state-owned Agency for Public Information (API), Friday said Minister of National Security St Clair Leacock would address the nation on the issue later on Thursday.

“We have no official confirmation of this from any source other than there was a strike, there were casualties,” Friday said, adding, “a lot of the information we have received is not official…but you know we can see what has happened and we heard the unofficial report and it is a matter that is very concerning to us.

“It is a very worrying situation for persons to operate in these waters, fishermen they go out and so forth and there is always the risk to them,” Friday said, adding that the police have since issued a notice “essentially cautioning people, but saying you can’t stop doing your business…and we will seek to find more concrete information from the sources who would have those answers”.

Earlier this week, Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre said his administration is “actively engaging through established diplomatic and security channels” after confirming that “people lost their lives” in the latest United States military strike targeting what Washington says were illegal drug dealers in the Caribbean Sea.

“I can confirm that people lost their lives and to the circumstances I have got no official notification on the circumstances surrounding their deaths,” Pierre told reporters, repeating that statement when asked whether those killed were Saint Lucians.

“The issue is being investigated by the powers responsible for investigations,” he said.

Last Friday, the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said that, at the direction of Commander General Francis L. Donovan, the Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by designated terrorist organizations.

Last Saturday, the St. Vincent Times newspaper published photographs of what it said were the remains of an alleged drug boat destroyed in the strike, which surfaced off Canouan, one of the Grenadine islands.

The newspaper reported that the discovery was made by a group of fishermen from the mainland, who indicated that no bodies were seen floating in the area.