Amnesty International Labels US Boat Strikes as Extrajudicial Murder

Daphne Eviatar, director for security and human rights for Amnesty International USA, stated that the military's current strategy in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific ignores established policing standards. According to Eviatar, international human rights law dictates that lethal force is only permissible when a life is in immediate danger. By targeting vessels based on narcotics suspicions, the administration is bypassing judicial processes and committing acts that she characterizes as murder.

Legal scrutiny of these operations intensified following a Washington Post report detailing a September 2 strike, where the military targeted two survivors of an initial attack as they clung to debris in the water. Representative Jim Himes, who reviewed classified footage of the incident, described the scene as one of the most troubling moments of his public service career, noting that the individuals were clearly helpless and posed no threat. To date, the United States has conducted 22 such strikes, resulting in at least 87 deaths.