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Pentagon can't identify whom it's killing in Latin America

Iran Press TV

Friday, 31 October 2025 7:32 AM

US War Department officials have admitted that they have no information about the identities of those aboard boats they accuse of sending drugs to the US before bombing the vessels, according to a report.

The US has so far bombed 15 boats in the waters of Latin America since September 2, which brings the total number of people killed to 61.

The extrajudicial killings have sparked fury among US Democrats who attended a classified briefing on the matter on Thursday.

"Pentagon officials said that they do not need to positively identify individuals on these vessels to do the strikes, they just need to prove a connection to smuggling," said Sara Jacobs, a member of the US House of Representatives.

"When we tried to get more information, we did not get satisfactory answers."

US President Donald Trump's administration has initiated strikes on boats in the waters near Venezuela and in the Eastern Pacific Ocean under the pretext that overdose deaths in the US related to fentanyl are rising, claiming the boats that have been targeted were allegedly smuggling cocaine.

However, the Pentagon can't even provide evidence to back up its claims about what the vessels were carrying.

"They argued that cocaine is a facilitating drug of fentanyl, but that was not a satisfactory answer for most of us."

Jacobs added that, based on what she was told, even if Congress authorized the bombing campaign, it would still be illegal. "There's nothing that we heard in there that changes my assessment that this is completely illegal, that it is unlawful and even if Congress authorized it, it would still be illegal because there are extrajudicial killings where we have no evidence," she said.

A day before the Thursday meeting, the Pentagon held a briefing exclusively with Republicans, excluding Democrats and leaving them fuming.

Mark Warner, a top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, described the Wednesday meeting as a "corrosive" act designed as a "political ploy to try to give assurance to their team."

He emphasized that all members of Congress, regardless of party affiliation, have a duty to oversee the White House, especially concerning deadly military actions.

A certain number of US Republicans have also criticized the Caribbean bombings by the US. "No one said their name, no one said what evidence, no one said whether they're armed, and we've had no evidence presented," said Republican senator Rand Paul.

"They summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public ... so it's wrong."

The US senator joined Senate Democrats in introducing a War Powers Resolution aimed at preventing the Trump administration from starting a war with Venezuela amid threats of US strikes on the country, amid a major US military buildup in the region. A vote on the bill is expected to happen next week.

Last week, the US deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, and five accompanying destroyers to Latin America.

UN experts have slammed the illegal military actions as "extrajudicial executions that violate international law."

The US has repeatedly indicated its intention to organize a regime change in Caracas. In 2020, it conducted Operation Gideon involving Venezuelan dissidents and a private Venezuelan firm to infiltrate Venezuela and remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power, which was unsuccessful.