AP identifies people killed by Trump's boat strikes — and they are not all terrorists
The Associated Press investigated the identities of those killed in President Donald Trump’s military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and found that many were not the hardened criminals Trump claimed.
"One was a fisherman struggling to eke out a living on $100 a month. Another was a career criminal. A third was a former military cadet. And a fourth was a down-on-his-luck bus driver," the report said.
Senators were given a classified briefing on Thursday, where Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) expressed confidence that the intelligence being used to justify the bombings was legitimate. Nonetheless, the Pentagon’s secrecy has fueled concern and skepticism among the public, CNN reported.
AP conducted dozens of interviews in Venezuelan coastal towns, finding families who dispute Trump’s portrayal of their loved ones as “narco-terrorists.” Most were “low-level” laborers taking dangerous jobs for $500 per trip. “They were laborers, a fisherman, a motorcycle taxi driver. Two were small-time criminals,” the report said. Only one was linked to a crime boss providing smuggling services.
The boats weren’t carrying fentanyl or heading to Florida; they shipped cocaine to nearby Trinidad and other islands, and then to Europe. The bulk of Colombian cocaine for the U.S. typically leaves Colombia via the Pacific. The boats appeared to be carrying cocaine instead of the deadlier opioids, which kill tens of thousands in America each year.
The families complain that their relatives should have been given "due process" rather than what Venezuela's ambassador to the U.N. called “extrajudicial executions.”
As the AP explained, "In the past, their boats would have been interdicted by the U.S. authorities and the crewmen charged with federal crimes, affording them a day in court."
Since September, at least 69 people have been killed by the strikes.