Just 29% of Americans support using the U.S. military to kill suspected drug traffickers without the involvement of a judge or court, a rebuke to President Donald Trump’s attacks in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The six-day poll, which ended on Wednesday as Washington continues a military buildup in Latin America that focuses especially on Venezuela, showed that 51% of respondents opposed the killings of suspected drug traffickers and the rest were unsure of their position.
In a sign of division within Trump’s party, 27% of Republicans in the poll opposed the practice, while 58% supported it, and the remainder were unsure. Three-quarters of Democrats opposed the practice, compared with one in 10 who supported it.
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The Trump administration has ordered at least 20 military strikes in recent months against suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Latin America’s Pacific coast, killing at least 79 people.
Rights groups including Amnesty International have condemned the attacks as illegal extrajudicial killings of civilians, and some U.S. allies have expressed growing concerns that Washington may be violating international law.
The attacks, which Trump and the Pentagon have frequently publicized in online videos featuring fiery explosions, represent a sharp departure from the traditional approach of using the U.S. Coast Guard to intercept maritime drug shipments and prosecute traffickers in court.
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The White House claims that the United States is at war with drug cartels and that courts are not necessary in armed conflicts, while accusing the Venezuelan government of being linked to drug traffickers — an accusation that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro denies. Venezuela is preparing its defenses in case the US attacks.
ONE IN THREE SUPPORTS THE MILITARY FORCE IN VENEZUELA
Only 35% of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they support the use of U.S. military force in Venezuela to reduce the flow of illegal drugs into the United States without permission from the Venezuelan government.
With more than 5,000 military personnel and dozens of warplanes on board, the United States Navy’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, and its strike group deployed to the Caribbean earlier this week, dramatically increasing the military buildup. This was in addition to the eight warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft already sent to the region.
Maduro, in power since 2013, says the strengthening of the US aims to remove him and Trump recently warned that Maduro’s days in power were ‘numbered’. Trump confirmed last month that he authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.
Just 21% of survey participants said they supported using the U.S. military to remove Maduro, while a slightly larger share — 31% — said they would support a U.S. effort to get rid of him through nonmilitary means.
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The Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted online, gathered responses from 1,200 US adults across the country and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
