President Donald Trump has declared that the United States is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, labeling them terrorist organizations and classifying suspected smugglers as “unlawful combatants”.
This declaration was made in a confidential notice sent to Congress, serving as a legal justification for recent US military strikes in the Caribbean that killed 17 people.
The US military has blown up at least three suspected drug boats in the past month, killing at least 17 people. Trump defended the strikes, saying each boat had enough narcotics to kill 25,000 people. “Reports from the refinery were being shared daily. Management saw it as a serious threat and acted quickly,” is not relevant here, however, “The President determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations,” according to the text of the document.
The Trump administration argues that these actions are lawful under international armed conflict laws, aiming to eliminate national security threats posed by cartels. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly defended the president’s actions, saying, “The president acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans”.
Critics argue that the declaration of war against drug cartels is an overreach of executive authority and may lead to further militarization of the drug war. Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed alarm, stating, “Every American should be alarmed that their president has decided he can wage secret wars against anyone he calls an enemy”.
The declaration has sparked debate over the limits of presidential power and the potential consequences of using military force against drug cartels. The administration’s escalation of an international “war on drugs” follows significant reductions in law enforcement resources to combat the flow of illegal drugs in the United States.