'We Have Lived This Nightmare Before': Latin American Lawmakers Condemn Trump Extrajudicial Killings
"US military interventions of the 20th century brought dictatorships, disappearances, and decades of trauma to our nations," the Latin American leaders emphasized.
Dozens of political leaders throughout Latin America are condemning US President Donald Trump's boat-bombing spree, which began in the Caribbean last month but has since spread to the Pacific Ocean.
In a letter posted by Progressive International on its X account, the Latin American leaders from across the region said that Trump's campaign of extrajudicial killings of purported drug traffickers is threatening peace and stability in Latin America, and is likely a pretext for further military intervention in the region.
"The Trump administration is escalating a dangerous military buildup off the coast of Venezuela, deploying naval forces in the Caribbean in preparation for potential armed intervention," they wrote. "The pretext is familiar. President Trump justifies intervention in Venezuela as a means to combat 'cartels,' celebrating lethal strikes against fishermen accused of carrying drugs."
The lawmakers then linked the Trump administration's current militarism to past US actions that had destabilized their nations.
"We have lived this nightmare before," they emphasized. "US military interventions of the 20th century brought dictatorships, disappearances, and decades of trauma to our nations. We know the terrible cost of allowing foreign powers to wage war on our continent. We cannot—we will not—allow history to repeat itself."
They called upon "all organized political forces across Latin America and the Caribbean" to unite in the name of preventing another "catastrophe" from occurring.
"Across our political contexts, we share a common cause: the sovereignty of our nations and the security of our peoples," they concluded. "We must stand together now."
The US military has carried out at least nine attacks on boats in the Caribbean and in the Pacific Ocean over the past seven weeks, killing at least 37 people so far. Although the administration has claimed that these boats were engaged in illegal drug smuggling, it has provided no evidence to justify this claim—and both Trump and Vice President have jokingly said it would be dangerous "to even go fishing" in the Caribbean, suggesting civilians could be killed in the strikes
Colombian President Gustavo Petro this past weekend said that the Trump administration had “committed a murder” after one of its boat attacks killed a Colombian citizen named Alejandro Carranza, who had been out on a fishing trip when the US military attacked his boat.
The Trump administration's boat strikes have been condemned not only by leaders in Latin America, but also by multiple US-based legal experts who have accused the administration of going on an extrajudicial murder spree. Experts have noted that the US has long approached drug trafficking as a criminal offense—not an act of war to be responded to with military force.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), a US-based think tank, announced on Thursday that it was launching a new project aimed at tracking "US militarism, aggression, and intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean," including "US strikes on boats, threats against Venezuela and Colombia, and other aspects of US interventionism in the region under the second Trump administration."
Alexander Main, CEPR's director of international policy, said that the Trump administration's recent actions across Latin America represent "a dangerous new escalation with an open disregard for international law and agreements" that could have "profound implications beyond the region."
