By Mary Ellen O’Connell
The U.S. government is justifying its lethal destruction of a boat suspected of transporting illegal drugs in the Caribbean as an attack on “narco-terrorists.”
But as an expert on international law, I know that line of argument goes nowhere. Even if, as the U.S. claims, the 11 people killed in the Sept. 2, 2025, U.S. Naval strike were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, it would make no difference under the laws that govern the use of force by state actors.
Nor does the fact that protests from other nations in the region are unlikely, due in large part to Washington’s diplomatic and economic power – and President Donald Trump’s willingness to wield it.
Protest is not what proves the law. Unlawful killing is unlawful regardless of who does it, why, or the reaction to it. And in regard to the U.S. strike on the alleged Venezuelan drug boat, the deaths were unlawful.
Domestic U.S. legal issues aside – and concerns have been raised on those grounds, too – the killings in the Caribbean violated the human right to life, an ancient principle codified today in leading human rights treaties.
Killing in war and peacetime
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is one such treaty to which the United States is a party. Article 6 of the covenant holds: “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”
Through rulings of human rights and other courts, it has been well established that determining when a killing has been arbitrary depends on whether the killing occurred in the context of peace or armed conflict.
Peace is the norm. And in times of peace, government agents are only permitted to use lethal force to save a life immediately. The United Nations’ Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials reinforce this peacetime right-to-life standard, noting “intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.”
The principle is also supported by the fact the U.S. has bilateral treaties regarding cooperation in drug interdiction. The Coast Guard has a series of successful Maritime Law Enforcement Agreements – known as Shiprider Agreements – with nations in the Caribbean and elsewhere. They commit U.S. authorities to respecting fundamental due process rights of criminal suspects. Such rights obviously do not include summary execution at sea.
Bypassing these bilateral and international treaties to dramatically blow up a ship not only violates law, but it will, I believe, further undermine trust and confidence in these or any other agreements the U.S. makes.
Flouting international law
In armed conflict, intentionally targeting an enemy vessel with lethal force is permitted, so long as the attack complies with international humanitarian law.
But it would be very difficult, in my opinion, for the U.S. to argue that it took action in the context of an armed conflict. In international law, armed conflict exists when two or more organized armed groups engage in intense fighting lasting at least a day. The U.S. started ignoring the definition of armed conflict when it began targeted killings of terrorism suspects with drones and other military means in 2002. War was raging in Afghanistan, but I would argue that killings in Yemen and elsewhere were not sufficiently tied to the fighting there to be lawful. The killings in Caribbean on Sept. 2 are a worse violation – they had links to no hostilities.
Organized crime groups of the kind the Trump administration alleges the boat members belonged to may be highly violent, but they are not engaged in armed conflict.
And while some armed groups waging war against governments do deal in drugs to pay for their participation in conflict, there is no evidence the gang that President Donald Trump purportedly targeted is such a group.
The term the Trump administration has used for the group is “narco-terrorist.” But that is not a recognized term under international law. As such, using it creates no exception to established principles on the right to life.
Nor does the right to life change depending on whether killings took place in territorial waters or on the high seas.
Given that the U.S. likely flouted international law, one could be forgiven for expecting the Trump administration to be held to account by the mechanisms that support the complex and comprehensive international legal system, such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
But prosecuting alleged violations of international law is notoriously hard. And given the power of the U.S. government and the nature of the victims – members of an alleged drugs gang – the political will to hold Washington to account may be weak. Yet, the attack still presents an important opportunity to demand respect for international law and what it stipulates in regard to the right to life.
Mary Ellen O’Connell is Professor of Law and International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
Skibum says
The U.S. Coast Guard excels in drug interdiction, whether in U.S. waters or farther away in international waters. The coast guard knows that regardless of any surveillance beforehand, they have to actually stop suspicious boats in order to conduct their investigation and determine whether any illegal activity has taken place because sometimes suspicious boats turn out to be innocent fishermen.
Escalating to the point of using the U.S. Navy, and then ordering a missile strike on a watercraft without even making an effort to stop the boat and detain the occupants for investigation is so unconscionable and clearly is a violation of international law. It was reported that this small boat contained 11 individuals, and all of them were killed when the missile struck and exploded on that boat. With so many people on that small craft, not only was there any evidence shown of drug smuggling, but it would have been nearly impossible to get any significant quantity of drugs on it in addition to all of those people, who may have been drug smugglers, may have been gang members, but they may just as easily have been innocent fishermen.
We will never know who those people were or what they were doing because the boat and all aboard were blown to smithereens… for NO reason whatsoever except to show the world that our military could do that with no justification, no warning, nothing. That is NOT international drug interdiction or any type of law enforcement on the open seas, it is just plain murder at will, like terrorists commit.
I suspect that after drumph’s failed meeting with Putin, his ridiculous tariffs going down the tube in the U.S. court system, and the much closer, friendlier relationship between the leaders of Russia, China, N. Korea and India that just made drumph look weak and ineffective, he thought he needed to do something brash to counteract his reported weakness and decided that nothing would make him appear to be more of a strong man like Putin than sending our military out to kill some people, and they chose that particular boat to end the lives of 11 people, whoever they were.
It is not any different than drumph issuing an order from the WH renaming the Dept. of Defense the “War Department” and then sharing on his social media platform an AI created strongman image of him announcing “WAR!” on the city of Chicago. His actions are getting more unhinged, more unconstitutional each and every day! God only knows what America can expect next.
Dennis C Rathsam says
We are at war with all the cartels, finally we have a president who will stop the murder of our kids. How many Americans died under Biden from fentanyal? These animals don’t care about you & your kids, why care about blowing them to hell. Maybe now the cartels will stop sending speed boats full of drugs into America. I know they wont stop, but keep the heat on, and destroy them all. TRUMP wont look the other way, Rubio, is doing a great job, finding these cartels, & waiting for the next hit on their list. TRUMP was elected to keep America safe, so your kids don’t die. THANX Mr President
Pogo says
@Professor O’Connell
Well said; let’s you and I arrest all murderers.
Deborah Coffey says
Trump: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.”
But, could you ever be put in prison where you belong?
Laurel says
Trump doesn’t give a damn about law. He also doesn’t give a damn about life. So, he said he could stand on 5th Avenue and shoot someone, and get away with it. He has proved himself right. Only now, it’s in the Caribbean, and in front of the world. No need for proof, no need for facts, no need for justice. Just blow them up, and call them names after they are dead. His supporters salivate. Trump’s reality show, which he writes daily, and changes by the minute. Chaos.
Trump is normalizing the abnormal.
His supporters are complicit.
Mark says
@Dennis C Rathsam. Who’s to say it was in fact terrorists in that boat, or that drugs headed to the US were in that boat. As @Skibum said and we all should agree, the US Coast Guard has the ability to stop a craft to investigate. With DUMP, there is no investigation. Just action, inappropriate action at that.
R.S. says
Trump is awesome: one look and he knows who’s guilty and who’s innocent–as he did for the Central Park Five when he took out the full-page ad asserting that they be killed. This man knows by taking one look at a boat whether it’s carrying ham sandwiches or fentanyl or marijuana. Just see him fasten his eagle-eye vision on people’s faces to determine whether they’re d0cumented or undocumented or downright criminal. In a steely sweep of the eyes, he can pick out anyone who’ll be a threat to the country or who’ll go out and murder someone by getting the victim hooked on dope or getting a knife between his/her ribs. The man’s a miracle sent by some god: let’s dismiss police, defense attorneys, and the entire activist judicial branch and let the man deliver us from all evil He’s a reborn Flash Gordon who’ll save us all!!!
Skibum says
R.S. – so true! And yet, was still hobbled by some nearby kryptonite or other dastardly “woke” force field that prevented the awesome super hero in the WH from achieving his good over evil victory when he declared that he would easily resolve the war in Ukraine in one day!
Days… weeks… now several months later he has revealed “it is a lot harder to solve”, even for a super hero like the one and only orange scrumph.
A Concerned Observer says
So now they are all Fish Food. Works for me.
Sherry says
@concerned. . . Therefore it is OK with you that trump is jury, judge and executioner with no rule of law whatsoever? What if your brother or kid was somehow on that boat? What if the next President can wield that kind of power because of this action? What if that President was a “Woke” liberal out to murder all Magas?
Please do try to actually “think” before you comment, and you show us just how ignorant you really are. Thanks!
JimboXYZ says
In other news, the war on drugs & illegals ?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/dea-arrests-over-600-people-072809145.html?.
I have no problem in the manner of which it was handled, make the bullets more affordable, Fire more broadsides. Maybe the Notre Dame Professor of Law should relocate to Sinaloa, that way she can see the big picture, the reality of the drug cartels & anyone employed in that industry. Keep Alligator Alcatraz/Gator Gitmo open !
Laurel says
A Concerned Observer: Neither are you concerned about law and order, nor are you an observer of such.
Ray W. says
The Wall Street Journal reports that the craft had turned around and was heading back to Venezuela when the people on board the craft were struck and killed.
If the strike is classified by the U.S government as an act of war, that is one thing. If the strike is classified by the U.S. government as an act of law enforcement, another thing entirely.
Make of this what you will.