{"id":40419,"date":"2025-11-02T14:24:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T14:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=40419"},"modified":"2025-11-02T14:24:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T14:24:45","slug":"cn401vzjx48oat_mediumrssat_campaignrss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2025\/11\/02\/cn401vzjx48oat_mediumrssat_campaignrss\/","title":{"rendered":"Three killed in latest US strike on alleged drug boat in Caribbean"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Three men have been killed in a US strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">It is the latest in a series of attacks on vessels the Trump administration says are being used to smuggle drugs into the US.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Since they began in September, experts have questioned the legality of the strikes under international law, which have drawn strong criticism from Latin American leaders whose citizens have been targeted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Combatting the flow of illegal drugs is a key policy for US President Donald Trump &#8211; but some have suggested the strikes are part of efforts to influence politically opposed governments in the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Hegseth said the boat targeted on Saturday was operated by a designated terrorist organisation &#8211; without specifying which one &#8211; and had been travelling in international waters when it was hit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The vessel was travelling along a known drug-smuggling route and carrying narcotics, he said, without providing evidence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Announcements of these strikes are usually accompanied with grainy footage but no evidence of the alleged drug trafficking and few details about who or what was on board each vessel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Hegseth&#8217;s statement late on Saturday was accompanied by a video that appears to show a blurred-out boat travelling through the water before exploding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The Trump administration has insisted that it was targeting &#8220;narco-terrorists&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Colombian President Gustavo Petro has previously described the attacks as &#8220;murder&#8221; and said they were being used by the US to &#8220;dominate&#8221; Latin America.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Meanwhile, Venezuela&#8217;s Nicolas Maduro accused Washington of &#8220;fabricating a war&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The two left-wing leaders have increasingly been at odds with the Trump administration. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Following Petro&#8217;s comments, the US placed sanctions on him and his inner circle, as well as removing Colombia&#8217;s certification as an ally in the war on drugs. Trump has threatened military action against land targets in Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">But this, he has admitted, may require the consent of the US Congress.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">However, some US lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, have said the strikes on vessels also required congressional approval &#8211; something Trump has denied. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Others have questioned whether the lethal strikes were legal at all.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The UN&#8217;s human rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday that such attacks were a violation of international human rights law. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Over 60 people have reportedly been killed in a continuing series of attacks carried out by US armed forces&#8230; in circumstances that find no justification in international law,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;These attacks \u2013 and their mounting human cost \u2013 are unacceptable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Experts in Latin American politics have suggested the strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific were part of a suite of measures designed to influence change in Colombia and Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The US is among many nations that consider Maduro&#8217;s election last year as illegitimate, while Trump has been critical of Petro&#8217;s policies on combatting the drug trade in his country, which has traditionally been a US ally.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Washington has steadily been building up a force of warships, fighter jets, marines, spy planes, bombers and drones in the Caribbean over the past few months, which it has framed as part of a crackdown on drug-trafficking but which military analysts say is much larger than what is needed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#killed #latest #strike #alleged #drug #boat #Caribbean<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three men have been killed in a US strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean, US Defence Secretary&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40421,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40419\/revisions\/40421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}