US Attack on ‘Venezuelan Drug Boats’: Are They Legal?

US officials say they have carried out a series of attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea that have killed many drug traffickers.

In the first of these announcements in September, President Donald Trump said his forces had destroyed a ship sailing from Venezuela. They said the boat was operated by the Train de Aragua cartel and was carrying drugs for the US.

Similar announcements followed in recent weeks, with grainy footage but no evidence of alleged drug trafficking and few details about who or what was on each ship.

Trump officials say they are acting in self-defense by destroying boats carrying illegal drugs to the United States, but the attacks have been condemned in the region.

In one case, Colombia’s president said the boat shot down by the U.S. was not Venezuelan, but “Colombian with Colombian citizens” — a denial the White House denied.

After the first attack, BBC Verify spoke to a range of experts in international and maritime law, many of whom said the US may have acted illegally to attack the ship.

The United States is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, but legal advisers to the U.S. military have previously said that the U.S. “Shall be acted upon in accordance with its provisions”.

Under this treaty, countries agree not to interfere with ships operating in international waters. There are limited exceptions to this that allow a state to seize a ship, such as “hot pursuit” where a ship is chased from a country’s waters into the high seas.

“Force can be used to stop boats but generally these should be non-lethal measures,” said Professor Luke Moffett of Queen’s University Belfast.

Prof Moffett added that the use of aggressive tactics must be “reasonable and necessary for self-defence where there is a risk of serious injury or loss of life to enforcement officers”, noting that the US moves were “unlawful under the law of the sea”.

Experts have also questioned whether the killing of alleged members of the Tren de Aragua cartel could violate international law on the use of force.

According to Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, countries can use force when attacking and deploying their forces in self-defense. Trump has previously accused the Tren de Aragua cartel of waging an irregular war against the US and the State Department The group was declared as a foreign terrorist organization.

After the first strike, Professor Michael Baker of Trinity College Dublin told BBC Verify that the US action “stretches the meaning of the word beyond its breaking point”.

“The fact that US officials describe individuals killed in US strikes as narco-terrorists does not transform them into legitimate military targets,” Prof Baker said. “The US is not involved in an armed conflict with Venezuela or the Tren de Aragua criminal organization.”

Prof Moffett added: “Labeling everyone a terrorist does not make them a legal target and enables states to side with international law.”

A memo to the US Congress, which was leaked, allegedly said the Trump administration had determined the US was in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Responding to the fifth strike in October, Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor at Dame Law School, told BBC Verify that “no credible facts or legal principles have emerged to support these strikes”.

“The only relevant law for peace is international law – that is the law of treaties, human rights and statehood,” Professor O’Connell wrote in an emailed statement.

But US officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, have defended the move, which has also been praised by Republicans in Congress.

When asked about the same strike, a White House official told BBC Verify that Trump had authorized it after Tren de Aragua members left Venezuela. The official added that the President is committed to using all means to prevent drugs from reaching the US.

The Pentagon declined to share the legal advice it received before the strike.

In one of the strikes on October 16, there were two survivors – a Colombian and an Ecuadorian, who the US government says were sent back for “arrest and trial”.

Questions have also been raised about whether the White House followed US law in authorizing the strike. According to the US Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war.

However, Article II – which sets out the powers of the President – states that “the President shall be the Chief of the Army” and some constitutional experts have suggested that this gives the President the power to authorize attacks on military targets. Trump administration sources have previously cited the provision when defending US attacks on Iran.

But it is unclear whether that provision extends to the use of force against non-state actors such as drug cartels.

Rumen Cholakov, an expert in US constitutional law at King’s College London, told BBC Verify that since 9/11, US presidents have relied on the 2001 Authorization of Use of Military Force Act (AUMF) to strike against groups responsible for the attacks.

“Its scope has been steadily expanded in subsequent administrations,” he added. “It’s not immediately clear that drug cartels like the Train de Aragua would be within the President’s AUMF powers, but ‘narco-terrorists’ are warning.”

There are also questions about whether Trump complied with the War Powers Resolution, which demands that the president “consult with Congress before bringing the armed forces of the United States into hostilities in every possible circumstance”.

Despite concerns about the strike among some Republicans in Congress, the Senate in October defeated a resolution that would have required the Trump administration to seek congressional approval before any further strikes.

The Venezuelan government has reacted angrily to the strike. Its president, Nicolas Maduro, denies US accusations of involvement in drug trafficking.

The attacks come amid reports that the US has deployed naval warships to the region in support of anti-narcotics operations against Venezuela.

Using satellite imagery, images from social media and information from publicly available trackers on ships, we identified 14 US military vessels in the region.

These include guided missile destroyers and amphibious assault ships.

We have also discovered several military aircraft and drones in Puerto Rico.

Trump also acknowledged in October that he had authorized the CIA to operate A covert operation in Venezuela.

The president – who has long sought to oust Maduro – has authorized a US$50m reward for any information leading to his arrest. The Venezuelan leader claimed victory in last year’s election, which international observers said was widely rigged.

Additional reporting by Lucy Gilder