Anonymous1 day ago
US Southern Command's April 16 strike killed three more people aboard an alleged drug vessel in the eastern Pacific, the fifth such operation in a week and pushing the cumulative death toll from the eight-month bombing campaign to roughly 175 across at least 50 vessels. The Trump administration cites Article II authority and a classified Justice Department memo to justify the strikes against cartels it has designated as foreign terrorist organizations, while a bipartisan group of senators, UN human-rights experts, and Latin American governments argue the operations are unauthorized killings without independent verification of their targets. Independent confirmation that targeted vessels were carrying narcotics — or that the dead were cartel operatives rather than fishermen — remains absent.