Caribbean-American American Democratic Congresswoman, Yvette D. Clarke, has condemned what she described as the Donald Trump administration’s ‘unauthorised’ military strikes on alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela and in the Caribbean Sea.
‘Since September, the Trump administration has carried out a series of unauthorised military strikes off the coast of Venezuela, across the Caribbean, and the Eastern Pacific,’ Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). ‘These operations have resulted in more than 80 deaths across 20 separate strikes-actions undertaken without congressional authorization, in clear violation of our Constitution.
‘This ‘kill first and ask questions never’ approach is not only unlawful but fundamentally un-American. These strikes have done nothing to curb the opioid crisis here at home.
‘Instead, they reflect poor leadership and reckless decision-making at the highest levels, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issuing a verbal order ‘to kill everybody’ during a second strike on a suspected drug vessel, which is an alarming directive that demonstrates a cavalier disregard for both US and international law’.
Clarke said to date, the administration has provided no credible evidence to justify its actions and rather than taking responsibility or accountability, this administration has shown nothing short of cowardly leadership by attempting to shift blame onto Navy Vice Admiral Frank Bradley for this unauthorised escalation toward conflict with Venezuela.
She noted that Congressional Democrats have called for briefings and hearings to address ‘these unlawful military actions.
‘Until we receive a formal explanation from the administration, it must cease using our Armed Forces for any hostilities in Venezuela or across the Caribbean. The Trump administration must atone for its actions before more are taken without due process and before further damage is done to our relationships with our Caribbean and Venezuelan neighbours.’
Under escalating pressure to provide more information to Congressional leaders and to explain the ‘unauthorised’ military strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea, President Trump said earlier this week that he agreed to releasing a video depicting the second military strike on an alleged narco-trafficking vessel that killed the remaining survivors in a September strike in the Caribbean Sea.
‘I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we’d certainly release, no problem,’ he told reporters in the Oval Office at the White House.
‘Every boat we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives. If you look at our numbers, the drugs coming out through sea are down 91 per cent.’
The US military reportedly struck the alleged drug-trafficking boat on September 2 four times- twice to kill the 11 suspects on board and an additional two times to sink the boat.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Admiral Frank Bradley, the commander of US Special Operations Command, ‘made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.