The latest bombing occurred in the eastern Pacific, suggesting an expansion of US military operations as President Trump also threatens the Colombian government. (Screenshot)
Caracas, October 22, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – United Nations (UN) experts have urged the Trump administration to halt “unlawful attacks and threats” in the Caribbean, following a series of military strikes on vessels that have killed over 30 people.
In a statement issued Tuesday, UN independent expert George Katrougalos and Special Rapporteurs Ben Saul and Morris Tidball-Binz said recent military operations against alleged drug traffickers off the Venezuelan coast lack a “proper legal basis” and argue that even if the allegations were substantiated, the use of lethal force “amounts to extrajudicial executions” and breaches international maritime law.
The experts likewise warned the US government against intervening in Venezuela’s domestic affairs or threatening to use armed force against the Caribbean country.
“Preparations for covert or direct military action against another sovereign State constitute an even graver breach of the UN Charter,” the three experts warned.
The signatories requested an end to “the long history of external interventions in Latin America” and urged the international community to uphold dialogue and the rule of law.
Saul is the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Tidball-Binz is the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and Katrougalos serves as independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order.
In a previous communique, the three experts condemned the first US military strike against a civilian vessel in the Caribbean Sea that killed 11 people, presumably Venezuelan nationals from Sucre state, recalling that “international law does not allow governments to simply murder alleged drug traffickers.”
Since early September, there have been seven confirmed US military strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels in the southern Caribbean, killing at least 32 people.
An eighth strike hit a vessel Wednesday in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the first outside the Caribbean, marking the expansion of President Donald Trump’s campaign.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the lethal bombing left two victims. In the short video, a small boat containing just a few dark packages is seen moving along the water before exploding. Hegseth compared drug smugglers to al-Qaeda.
Victims of the US military campaign in the Caribbean are reportedly from Venezuela, Colombia, and Trinidad and Tobago. However, the US has not provided any evidence that the targeted civilians were involved in drug trafficking.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that Alejandro Carranza, a 40-year-old fisherman from Santa Marta in the northern Magdalena department, was among the victims of the September 15 attack on a stranded boat displaying known distress signals. The attack presumably occurred in Colombian waters and contradicts Washington’s assertion that all the bombings occurred in international waters.
Petro has ordered an investigation and accused the US government of violating Colombian sovereignty.
The Colombian leader charged Trump with seeking to justify an invasion of Venezuela in order to take control of its oil reserves. The US president responded by cutting off US aid to Colombia, threatening to enact tariffs on Colombian exports as well as labelling Petro “an illegal drug leader” and expanding strikes to both of Colombia’s coasts.
Survivor of US strike has no drug-smuggling ties
Another confirmed Colombian victim was 34-year-old Jeison Obando Pérez. He survived the October 16 strike alongside 41-year-old Ecuadorian national Andrés Fernando Tufiño. They are the only two known survivors of the strikes in the Caribbean.
Pérez arrived in Colombia with brain damage and is still undergoing treatment. Colombia’s Interior Minister, Armando Benedetti, announced that he would be investigated for alleged drug smuggling. The father of the victim told Caracol Radio that his son was not involved in criminal activities and that he was the family’s main source of income.
The Ecuadorian survivor was discharged on Monday after judicial authorities found insufficient evidence of drug smuggling offenses.
Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa has not addressed the near-fatal attack of an Ecuadorian national by the US military and the lack of a drug-smuggling connection. Instead, Noboa sent Trump a message Monday expressing support for the global fight against drug trafficking.
For their part, Trinidad and Tobago authorities have also not addressed the reported killing of two Trinidadian fishermen, Chad “Charpo” Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, in the October 14 strike. Their families told local media the victims were not drug smugglers.
The Venezuelan government has condemned the US for carrying out “massacres” against civilians in the Caribbean, raising the issue with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and warning of imminent aggression against mainland Venezuela.
The US bombing campaign has instilled fear in fishing communities across the Caribbean coast, impacting their main source of income. However, US officials have dismissed concerns and pledged to continue bombing any vessels they locate on alleged drug trafficking routes as part of Washington’s self-declared counternarcotics mission.
Anonymous sources cited by The Guardian say the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is providing real-time satellite and signals intelligence being used by US forces to locate targets in Caribbean waters, adding to the opacity surrounding these strikes, as CIA intelligence is not subject to any public scrutiny. US officials recently disclosed that the CIA was authorized to conduct lethal covert operations in Venezuela, and Trump has indicated land strikes could follow.
The US focus on alleged Caribbean drug routes also contradicts data by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) that the vast majority of US-bound narcotics reach the US via Pacific routes and Central America. Venezuela is not a major drug-producing or drug-shipping country.
Since mid-August, the White House has stationed at least eight warships, aircraft, and an estimated 10,000 troops in the Caribbean as part of the White House’s purported anti-narcotics mission.
Washington has additionally accused Caracas of running a cartel and having ties to other criminal outfits in the region, basing their allegations on a 2020 indictment. The US has also issued a $50 million bounty on President Nicolás Maduro, but no court-tested evidence has been presented.
Maduro has repeatedly accused the US of seeking to oust his government from power through coercion, including unilateral economic sanctions, supporting far-right coup efforts and the current military threat lurking on its coasts.
Edited by José Luis Granados Ceja in Mexico City, Mexico.
