Pentagon Admits to Striking Caribbean Boats Without Identifying Victims' Purported Drug Links

"The Trump administration has targeted more than a dozen boats, mostly in the Caribbean Sea but some in the Pacific Ocean, killing at least 61 people total. While the administration has tried to justify the killings by claiming the occupants of the boats were drug traffickers, many of the victims' families have indicated they were fishermen and not part of any organized crime. Critics have said that, even if the administration is correct in its assessment, the attacks on the vessels amount to extrajudicial killings."

"On Thursday, Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-California) told CNN that the Pentagon briefed her and other lawmakers on the attacks, informing them that the administration does not "need to positively identify individuals on the vessel to do the strikes." The administration attacked the boats - rather than detaining and then prosecuting the people they claimed were drug traffickers - "because they could not satisfy the evidentiary burden" to successfully prosecute them, Jacobs elaborated."

Pentagon officials briefed Democratic lawmakers that U.S. military strikes on small vessels off northern South America proceeded without positively identifying individuals aboard before attacking. The Trump administration targeted more than a dozen boats, mostly in the Caribbean Sea and some in the Pacific, resulting in at least 61 deaths. The administration has characterized the vessels as carrying drug traffickers, while many victims' families assert the dead were fishermen unaffiliated with organized crime. Critics describe the attacks as extrajudicial killings. Lawmakers were informed that strikes were carried out rather than detentions and prosecutions because the evidentiary burden for successful prosecutions could not be met.

Read at Truthout