US officials admit to not knowing who they're killing in Caribbean boat strikes
Iran Press TV
Saturday, 01 November 2025 8:42 AM
The United States has admitted to murdering unidentified victims in illegal extrajudicial killings during boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
US officials acknowledged on Thursday that they don't know the identities of the people they're killing and can't meet the evidentiary burden to prosecute survivors.
In separate briefings provided to lawmakers and staffers, officials with the administration of President Donald Trump acknowledged that they do not know the identities of the victims of their strikes, and that the War Department cannot meet the evidentiary burden necessary to hold or try survivors of the attacks.
The US military, under orders from Trump, has been attacking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 62 civilians.
The Trump administration insists killing of the unidentified civilians is permissible because the US is engaged in "non-international armed conflict."
However, Legal experts have refuted the claim, rejecting the legality of the Trump administration's move.
The move has triggered angry reactions in the Democratic Party. "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."
"There's nothing 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 number of Republican lawmakers have criticized the military actions. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky censured the US military strikes against those accused of drug smuggling in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean as "extrajudicial killings."
Also, UN experts have slammed the US actions as extrajudicial executions in violation of international law.
The victims' families say the Trump administration is "killing poor people" for no good reason.
Trump has claimed that despite Washington's "war on drugs," his administration is not considering military strikes against Venezuela, appearing to contradict his own remarks from the previous week.
When asked by reporters if recent US strikes on vessels in the Caribbean, reportedly smuggling narcotics, could escalate into attacks against Venezuela itself, Trump simply replied, "No."
In recent weeks, Trump has publicly stated that his administration will target alleged drug-related activities inside Venezuela, declaring, "The land is going to be next," during a press conference last week.
The Trump administration has indicated that its real intention by boosting its military presence in Latin America is to do regime change in Venezuela.
The Trump administration's military buildup in the Caribbean and near Venezuelan waters began in August, involving 6,000 personnel, several destroyers, anti-submarine aircraft, battleships, nuclear submarines, and F-35 squadrons.
The Caracas government has responded to the Trump administration's military escalation with defiance, vowing to defend the socialist revolution started in the 1990s by Maduro's late predecessor and mentor Hugo Chavez.
In 2020, Washington launched Operation Gideon involving Venezuelan dissidents and a private Venezuelan firm to infiltrate Venezuela and remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power. The American plan failed due to poor planning and execution by the US forces.
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