Amnesty International calls for end to US ‘murderous’ air strikes in Caribbean Sea

NEW YORK, CMC – The international human rights group Amnesty International is calling for an end to the United States military’s “deadly, ongoing and illegal campaign” of air strikes against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean.

It is calling on the US Congress to stop the “murderous year-long campaign”.

“For one year, the US military has carried out a campaign of extrajudicial killings at sea that has left more than 225 people dead, with the most recent four deaths just six days ago,” said Amnesty International USA’s National Director for Government Relations, Amanda Klasing.

“For just as long, we have called on Congress to take meaningful action to stop these killings, which are illegal under both international and US law.”

She added, “US authorities have yet to offer a shred of evidence to support their claims against the people they have killed. They have not even named the dead.”

The human rights official said that even if the victims were transiting narcotics as the administration alleges, international law absolutely prohibits summary killings of criminal suspects.

“Unfortunately, with a few notable exceptions, lawmakers have done little to try to halt this horrific campaign of murder at sea. And let us be clear: extrajudicial killings are a form of murder,” Klasing said.

“How many more people will die at sea from this administration’s illegal actions before Congress does its job?”

Klasing said Amnesty International looks forward to the day, “when the architects and perpetrators of this campaign of extrajudicial killings are investigated and face justice, including the people who ordered these operations: President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.”

Klasing said until then Amnesty International will continue pushing the US Congress “to do its job to stop this ongoing policy of murder”, urging US citizens to call their congressional representatives and do the same.

But she said the blame does not solely rest on US authorities, urging any authorities in the region who have aided these killings with equipment or intelligence to stop collaborating in “this illegal air strike campaign and likewise face justice”.

Klasing noted that the US air strike campaign in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific began on September 2, 2025, and that, since then, the Trump administration officials have announced 227 total deaths.

Last week, the US military said it attacked a boat suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people.

US lawmakers have raised alarm about President Trump’s continued attack on suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean after a lull of a few months.

Without citing evidence, President Trump has claimed that the military strikes have reduced the flow of drugs into the US by 98 per cent.

But Texas Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro, who has dispatched letters to Trump administration officials protesting the military strikes, described the campaign as “illegal and ineffective”.

He said the strikes have “violated US laws, failed to meaningfully stop drug trafficking, and legally imperiled US service members ordered to conduct these strike.”

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