The US military killed at least 207 people in attacks that destroyed 66 vessels as part of a campaign that Washington says was aimed at curbing the flow of drugs into the United States, according to official announcements and analysis by the US military. CNN about search and rescue efforts.
There were at least 20 survivors of these attacks, at least two of whom were briefly detained by the US Navy before being returned to their home countries. Around 11 people are considered dead after searches failed to find their bodies in the water.
The most recent attack against a vessel allegedly involved in drug trafficking occurred on Thursday (18).
The U.S. Coast Guard has begun a search for an unspecified number of survivors who abandoned ship before their vessels were struck on Dec. 30 in international waters.
The Coast Guard suspended the search on January 2. Authorities later said they were trying to locate eight survivors. The Coast Guard also began searches for survivors of vessel collisions on October 27, January 23 and February 9, but all three searches were suspended without the men being located.
After the April 11 collisions, the military said it notified the Coast Guard to “activate the Search and Rescue system” after one person survived the first collision. The notified the Coast Guard of one survivor after the May 8 collision, two survivors on May 26, and two survivors on June 16.
The Trump administration has informed Congress that the US is now in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels since the first attack on September 2, classifying those killed as “illegal combatants” and claiming it has the ability to carry out lethal attacks without judicial review due to a confidential Justice Department finding.
Some members of Congress, as well as human rights groups, have questioned this conclusion and argued that potential drug traffickers should be prosecuted, as was the interdiction policy implemented by the US before President Donald Trump took office.
The Trump administration also did not present public evidence of the presence of narcotics on the affected boats, nor of their links to drug cartels.
Military authorities said no members of the military were injured in the attacks.
