Why isn’t the US prosecuting survivors of boat attacks in the Caribbean?
The New York Times wrote: Recent reports about orders issued by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett have once again raised questions about the possibility of war crimes.
The Pentagon faced a serious challenge in mid-October. US forces rescued two people from the water after an attack on a boat in the Caribbean, and now had to decide what to do with them.
In a phone call between the US Department of Defense and the State Department, Pentagon lawyers proposed transferring the two survivors to a notorious prison in El Salvador, the same prison where the Trump administration has sent hundreds of Venezuelan citizens after deportation.
According to a US State Department official, the proposal shocked and shocked the department’s lawyers, who flatly rejected it. The two survivors were eventually returned to their home countries, Colombia and Ecuador.
Less than two weeks later, on October 29, Pentagon officials held another video conference on the boat survivors, attended by dozens of U.S. diplomats from across Latin America. The main message, according to sources familiar with the matter, was that any survivors should be repatriated to their home country or a third country.
The New York Times wrote: “There was an ulterior motive behind this policy: to prevent the survivors from being transferred to U.S. soil. The presence of the boat survivors in U.S. courts could force the administration to provide evidence and documents related to the legitimacy of Trump’s planned military operations in the region.”
The American media added: “These previously unreported calls and internal decisions show how the Trump administration is dealing with the issue of survivors of U.S. boat attacks in a fragmented, tense and sometimes chaotic manner.”
The New York Times wrote: “Without providing evidence, the US military has identified these boats as carrying drugs and an immediate threat to the United States, and is targeting them with this justification.”