Hegseth Says U.S. Has Full Legal Authority for Caribbean Strikes

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the United States has all necessary legal approvals to carry out military strikes against vessels located off the coast of Venezuela, which are suspected of transporting illegal narcotics.

“We have every authorisation needed. These are designated as foreign terrorist organisations,”

Hegseth said during an interview. He did not elaborate further on the nature of the authorisation or provide specific legal documentation.
The U.S. government has cited a mix of legal frameworks to justify the strikes, including constitutional powers, the president’s war authority, the classification of certain cartels as terrorist groups, the inherent right to self-defence, and international laws addressing unlawful combatants.
Nevertheless, some lawmakers and legal scholars argue that using military force in international waters against suspected criminals bypasses due process, undermines law enforcement norms, and lacks solid grounding under both U.S. and international law. Critics also dispute the legal weight of labelling drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations in this context.
To date, neither Hegseth nor President Donald Trump has released concrete evidence showing the targeted boats were actually transporting drugs. Trump recently informed Congress that the U.S. is engaged in “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels but offered no new legal reasoning for that determination.
Critics view the strikes as part of a broader effort by Trump to test and possibly expand the reach of presidential authority. Questions have also been raised about why the U.S. military, rather than the Coast Guard—America’s maritime law enforcement agency—is carrying out the missions.

“If you’re in our hemisphere, if you’re in the Caribbean, if you’re north of Venezuela and you want to traffic drugs to the United States, you are a legitimate target of the United States military,” Hegseth said.

Trump also claimed that the U.S. military’s increased presence in the Caribbean had effectively disrupted drug smuggling routes from South America.

“There’s no drugs coming into the water. And we’ll look at what phase two is,” he said during remarks to reporters.

In response, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reportedly told his Venezuelan counterpart that the country strongly opposes the U.S. strikes and is alarmed by the risk of further escalation in the region.


Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x

Give

Please select your prefered mode of payment.

Code:
LWCAN

(For Canada only) partnership@loveworldcan.ca