Rights Expert Calls for Prosecution as US Boat Bombings Hit 70 Dead

Former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth argues that treating suspected drug traffickers as combatants in the absence of a declared war constitutes a clear violation of international law. The administration justifies the strikes as part of an armed conflict against cartels, yet it has failed to provide public evidence linking the 18 targeted vessels specifically to narcotics. This military approach has bypassed congressional oversight, with Senate Republicans recently blocking a war powers resolution that sought to require legislative authorization for the bombings.

While the White House maintains that the targets are dangerous terrorists, investigative reporting from the Associated Press suggests the casualties include impoverished individuals driven to smuggling by dire economic circumstances. Victims identified include a local fisherman and a former transit driver, neither of whom held high-level positions in criminal organizations. Critics, including Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America, contend that the lethal strikes prioritize political optics over effective law enforcement. Instead of gathering intelligence through traditional interdiction and arrests, the administration is accused of engaging in extrajudicial executions that fail to dismantle the structural foundations of drug trafficking networks.