Amnesty urges US Congress to halt year-long air strikes on boats in Caribbean Sea
The rights group says more than 225 people have been killed in strikes on suspected drug vessels since September 2025 and calls them extrajudicial killings.
NEW YORK, United States. Amnesty International has called on the US Congress to stop what it described as a "murderous year-long campaign" of US military air strikes on suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific.
"For one year, the US military has carried out a campaign of extrajudicial killings at sea that has left more than 225 people dead, with the most recent four deaths just six days ago," said Amanda Klasing, national director for government relations at Amnesty International USA, on Monday, August 31.
"US authorities have yet to offer a shred of evidence to support their claims against the people they have killed. They have not even named the dead," she said.
"A form of murder"
Klasing said that even if the victims were transporting narcotics, as the administration alleges, international law prohibits summary killings of criminal suspects.
"Unfortunately, with a few notable exceptions, lawmakers have done little to try to halt this horrific campaign of murder at sea," she said. "How many more people will die at sea from this administration's illegal actions before Congress does its job?"
She said Amnesty looked forward to the day when those responsible are investigated and face justice, naming President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Klasing also urged any authorities in the region that have helped the strikes with equipment or intelligence to stop collaborating in "this illegal air strike campaign and likewise face justice."
Strikes since September 2025
Klasing said the campaign began on September 2, 2025, and that Trump administration officials have since announced 227 deaths in total.
Last week the US military said it attacked a boat suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people.
US lawmakers have raised alarm over the resumption of strikes after a lull of a few months.
Without citing evidence, Trump has claimed the strikes have reduced the flow of drugs into the US by 98 per cent.
Texas Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro, who has written to administration officials protesting against the strikes, described the campaign as "illegal and ineffective". He said the strikes have "violated US laws, failed to meaningfully stop drug trafficking, and legally imperiled US servicemembers ordered to conduct these strikes."
