Interior minister says ‘murder has been committed’ amid rising tensions over US military strike on boat in Caribbean
None of the 11 people killed in a US military strike on a boat in the Caribbean last week were members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, Venezuela’s interior minister has said, as the South American country deployed troops amid heightened tensions with the US.
The administration of Donald Trump has said the boat was transporting illegal narcotics, but has provided scant further information about the incident, even amid demands from members of the US Congress for a justification for the action.
“They openly confessed to killing 11 people,” the interior minister and ruling party head, Diosdado Cabello, said on state television. “We have done our investigations here in our country and there are the families of the disappeared people who want their relatives, and when we asked in the towns, none were from Tren de Aragua, none were drug traffickers.
Is it still a war crime without a war? I’m not trying to split hairs or justify the crime, just wondering about definitions. A quick search didn’t really clarify it. Violation of international law, absolutely. And who would prosecute? I don’t think the US has allowed itself to be subjugated to any international court.
It technically may not even be a breach of international law, since the US is one of the few countries that did not ratify UNCLOS, the law that would apply in international waters. The US was evil for a long time and refused to sign anything that would hold them even symbolically accountable. This did not start with Trump. He just went mask off.
Would this mean that the reverse is also true? Any ‘war crimes’ done on Americans aren’t war crimes because they themselves don’t recognise it?
We just need a bigger stick?
I would love to know as well, so I am slowly reading the UNCLOS treaty as I have time. We have no obligation towards US to not sink their ships, but we may have given promises to other parties of UNCLOS not to attack any ships, even those that did not sign.
It’s like if your promise your wife you will be nice to your mother in law. You did not promise anything to your mother in law and she promised nothing to you, but you are still obligated to be nice to her unless your wife agrees to cancel the promise.
So I don’t know if UNCLOS only deals with not sinking member ships or all ships.
Also, touching US ships is historically very dumb thing to do.
You’re correct, the ICC’s jurisdiction has never been recognized by the US, or a bunch of other countries for that matter. They could still prosecute individuals and convict them, but the US wouldn’t hand them over, and it’s not likely that anyone would attempt to come get them.
There is a pretty large number of ICC fugatives from all over the world, notably Russian and Israeli officials. Afaik, France and the UK are the only two UN members with veto power that recognize the ICC’s official jurisdiction.