Arturo Castañares
Publisher
The US military, at the direction of the President, is undertaking airstrikes against small boats in international waters off the coast of Mexico and Venezuela contrary to US and international laws, launching a new form of piracy that hasn’t existed in the Caribbean in nearly 300 years.
President Trump and Defense (now aka War) Secretary Pete Hegseth celebrate the aerial bombings of small boats as necessary for our national defense against narco groups they designated as terrorist organizations, but Trump has provided zero evidence that they even know who they’re bombing.
After at least 66 people have been killed in 16 airstrikes, the US has still not provided any evidence to the public to justify the unilateral extrajudicial assassinations of people on the high seas, except to say that they are narco-terrorists smuggling drugs toward the United States.
Two weeks ago, after the bombing of a boat, two people survived and were picked up by the US military, but, instead of being brought to the US to face charges for their alleged terrorist actions, they were returned to their home country of Venezuela without any charges.
If Trump had proof that these men were drug smugglers, they could have (and should have) brought them to face charges in an American courtroom for everyone to see.
This week, the Associated Press reported that at least four men killed in US airstrikes were local fishermen and low-level criminals hired to smuggle drugs for as little as $500 per trip, but they were not members of any organized drug cartel or narcoterrorist group.
This is not to defend or diminish their roles in knowingly attempting to smuggle drugs into the US, but, had they been caught by law enforcement agencies and tried in the US, their crimes would not have resulted in death sentences.
But, instead, at least 66 people have been killed in military airstrikes without any confirmation of their involvement in a criminal enterprise, conviction of their guilt, or opportunity to serve out their punishment and continue with their lives.
The US President and military have become the investigators, prosecutors, judges, juries, and executioners of people they can’t even name, inflicting the ultimate penalty that is not prescribed by any law in this country, or even the victims’ own.
In Venezuela, for example, the penalty for smuggling large quantities of drugs can range from 10 to 30 years in prison, but under no circumstances is there a death penalty for drug smuggling.
In the US, there has never been a death penalty conviction in a case solely for drug smuggling, and even Mexican cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who ruthlessly led the Sinaloa Cartel and was convicted of 10 felony counts in New York for running a continuing criminal enterprise, was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 30 years, not the death penalty.
If El Chapo Guzman, who was a known billionaire drug smuggler, was not executed for his crimes, then how can unnamed individuals from Venezuela, Mexico, or any other country be executed in military strikes without any kind of criminal charges or court process?
International law already governs what can and cannot happen on the high seas, and unilateral executions are not allowed.
It is undisputed that there have been Americans involved in drug smuggling operations from Colombia and Mexico, as well as from other countries, including importing fentanyl from China.
If any country can carry out executions they deem necessary to protect their interests without due process, then how can Americans expect to be safe when traveling abroad if they’re involved in criminal activity?
If the US President can unilaterally order military strikes against individuals he deems to be terrorists through some secret process, then we may be executing people with very little verifiable information and with no recourse if we’re wrong.
This is a dangerous precedent.
The US should be the beacon of liberty, freedom, and the rule of law. For the past 249 years, we have claimed the moral high ground on law and order, but now we are bringing ourselves down to the level of Third World strongmen and banana republics.
The urge to protect our homeland from those that mean to cause us harm —whether directly or indirectly— is noble, but it must be carried out in a noble fashion.
We cannot randomly execute people because we have the world’s most powerful military without considering that someday —possibly in the foreseeable future— China may have the most powerful military in the world and Americans would loathe to have China unilaterally executing air strikes against our citizens.
With great power comes great responsibility, and we must act accordingly.
If we believe that people in boats are smuggling drugs to the US, we should intercept them, bring them here, try them, convict them, and sentence them.
That is the American way.
Anything short of that, and we have sold out our values for expediency and short-term political gain.
