Friend — The Trump administration is committing war crimes in the Caribbean.
Yes, Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are doing everything they can to instigate war with Venezuela, and they’re breaking both the Constitution and international law to carry out their plan.
From the start, I and others in the Senate have raised the alarm bells over lethal US military airstrikes on small boats in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela — boats that the administration claims were smuggling drugs.
We may never know if these boats were truly carrying drugs or if they were merely fishing boats. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Even if these boats were trafficking drugs, it is completely illegal and utterly immoral for the Trump administration to go around any kind of due process and hand down an instant death penalty.
Trump ran on ending endless wars, but it was a lie. His administration has done everything it can to provoke war, from issuing direct threats to Venezuela, to ordering these deadly illegal strikes, to building up US military presence in the region.
Now we’ve learned from a Washington Post report that Pete Hegseth personally ordered that US commanders “kill everybody” onboard a boat that was bombed in September:
“A live drone feed showed two survivors from the original crew of 11 clinging to the wreckage of their boat after the initial missile attack…The Special Operations commander overseeing the operation then ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s directive… killing both survivors.”
Friend, the list of crimes here are long. It is unconstitutional for the President to wage war without Congress’s consent. It is extrajudicial murder for the government to execute people for allegedly smuggling drugs. It is a war crime to execute people who pose no imminent threat of attack against the United States. And it is a war crime to execute any and all survivors.
I am joining my colleagues in the Senate as we work to assert our power to hold the administration responsible for these strikes. But while we fight for accountability and justice, we need to build grassroots pressure and send a message to Trump that the people are watching, and they will not accept endless war.
In solidarity,
Senator Ed Markey
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