WASHINGTON - Amnesty International has issued a strong condemnation of U.S. airstrikes carried out in the Caribbean and Latin America, demanding an immediate halt to what it calls illegal and extrajudicial killings.
According to the human rights organization, at least 57 people have been killed since the beginning of September in the U.S.-led operations, which took place outside any recognized war zone.
Of the 13 airstrikes confirmed by U.S. officials, eight occurred in the Caribbean region. Washington claims the targets were “narco-terrorists,” but Amnesty says no evidence has been provided to prove the individuals posed a direct threat or were involved in criminal activity.
“The U.S. military has been sent to kill on the basis of unlawful orders,” said Daphne Eviatar, Director at Amnesty International USA.
“The government has not disclosed the names of the victims or provided evidence of their alleged crimes.”
Not a War Zone
Amnesty rejects the Trump administration’s justification that the United States is “at war” with drug cartels — a claim used to invoke wartime rules permitting lethal force.
“The Caribbean and Latin America are not active war zones,” Amnesty stated. “There is no armed conflict, and drug cartels have not attacked the United States.”
Even if Congress were to authorize the use of military force against cartels, Amnesty argues, the strikes would still violate international law, as extrajudicial executions are strictly prohibited under human rights conventions.
Deadly Force ‘Cannot Be Justified’
Amnesty further contends that the U.S. Coast Guard could have intercepted and boarded suspicious vessels, as is standard in counter-narcotics operations.
Instead, officials chose to conduct aerial bombardments, which resulted in mass casualties.
Senator Marco Rubio confirmed that at least one of the first targeted boats could have been captured instead of destroyed.
“Regardless of the crimes committed by drug traffickers, executing people who pose no immediate threat constitutes murder under both national and international law,” said Eviatar.
Call for Congressional Action
The organization is urging the U.S. Congress to suspend all airstrikes immediately and launch an independent investigation into who within the administration authorized and executed the attacks.
Amnesty accuses President Donald Trump of personally taking credit for the strikes and boasting publicly about them, while ignoring repeated warnings about human rights violations.
According to Amnesty, the actions set a dangerous precedent for regional leaders who might seek to justify extrajudicial executions under the guise of anti-drug operations.
“These killings send a message that impunity is acceptable,” Amnesty warned. “It erodes the rule of law not only in the United States but across the entire region.”
The controversy continues to escalate amid growing international criticism of Washington’s military tactics in the Caribbean basin — an area where geopolitical tensions are already high following repeated U.S. operations targeting alleged drug traffickers near Venezuelan and Caribbean waters.
