A five-month investigation led by the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) has revealed the identities of 13 victims of U.S. naval attacks in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. These individuals had not been previously identified, raising the total number of identified victims to 16, while the overall death toll from the campaign since last year stands at 194.
The CLIP report shows that all identified victims came from impoverished communities across Latin America and the Caribbean. Among them are eight Venezuelans, three Colombians, two Ecuadorans, two Trinidadians, and one person from Saint Lucia. Some were fishermen with no apparent ties to drug trafficking, while others are believed to have taken part in transporting illegal goods to escape poverty.
María Teresa Ronderos, CLIP's director and co-founder, stated: "Although the U.S. claims the attacks are aimed at countering narco-terrorism, what is actually happening is that young people living in extremely precarious conditions, taking any job to support their families, become targets." She emphasized: "The U.S. has not taken down any Pablo Escobar or Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán."
The investigation also highlighted that the attacks have not reduced drug flows into the United States, but have instead torn apart communities already weakened by organized crime and state neglect. "There are communities that have stopped fishing for weeks at a time — and if they do, people go hungry — because they are afraid of being bombed," Ronderos said.
The Trump administration justified the killings by labeling the targets as 'narco-terrorists' transporting drugs into the U.S. However, in the eight months since the airstrikes began, Washington has not provided evidence that any of the 194 victims were involved in drug trafficking.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Southern Command stated that all attacks were "intentional, lawful, and precise, targeting specific narco-terrorists and their accomplices." Meanwhile, Brian Finucane, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group and a former U.S. State Department lawyer, argued that the naval attacks have never been "a serious anti-drug campaign" but rather "a military spectacle to create the illusion that the administration is doing something strong about drugs."
Several organizations, countries, and the United Nations have condemned the attacks as extrajudicial executions, yet they continue. "Whether those men were engaged in legal or illegal work, children have lost their breadwinners in families that were already extremely poor," Ronderos added.
