Did the US commit war crimes in deadly Venezuela boat strike? | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube where we take a deeper look at. one of the stories in the headlines. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. And today. we're asking has the Trump. administration committed war crimes amid. reports that the US military killed two. people clinging to wreckage in the sea. after they survived an initial airstrike. on their boat. I'm joined by our Latin. America online editor Vanessa. Buschschlüter. Vanessa, this strike came. about as part of President Trump's. campaign against Venezuela. Why is there.

so much animosity between the US and. Venezuela? Oliver, there have long been tensions. between the two countries and I would. say that they go back as far as 25 years. ago or 26 years ago when the former. president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, came to power. Now, he was a left-wing. leader who often accused the United. States of imperialism. And more recently, his successor in. office, Nicolás Maduro, was reelected in. an uh election that was widely dismissed.

as rigged by the United States and the. Venezuelan um opposition as well as many. other countries. And it has been since then that the US. has been ramping up pressure on Nicolás. Maduro, whom they declare an illegitimate. leader. But more recently, the Trump. administration has also accused the. Venezuelan government of being behind. two of the problems that Trump has. promised to eradicate. One of them is.

the flow of migrants to the US and the. other one is the flow of illicit drugs. into the country. And so, for the past 3. months, we've seen the US military. targeting these boats in the waters off. Venezuela. Just tell us what's been. going on. That's right. So, back in. September, the US decided to ramp up its. war on drugs and they decided to focus. in on fast boats transporting drugs in.

the Caribbean. And in order to stop those boats, they. deployed a huge amount of warships and. of uh US military and navy forces. And on the 2nd of September, they. launched a strike on a boat in the. Caribbean which they said was carrying. drugs to the US and that boat was blown. up and 11 people on board were killed. Yeah, this was the first strike of the.

campaign and this is the one that's. caused all the controversy. Exactly what. happened? That's right. So, the US. military saw this uh small vessel in. international waters. and they told the US public and the. media later that they were convinced. that this drug this this boat was. carrying drugs. However, they have not. provided any evidence that or publicly. at least they haven't provided any. evidence that it was carrying drugs. And.

then they launched what they call a. kinetic strike. Now, it has now transpired that after. that first strike, there was a second. strike. And the Washington Post newspaper. alleges that this was because the. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, had in. the run-up to the strike given orders. to, I quote, kill everyone on board. Now, in the first strike, the boat was. destroyed and uh video has shown that.

two people on board survived, two out of. the 11, and were clinging to the. wreckage. And it is then that a second. strike was launched in which those two. survivors were killed. And that's what now what has now caused. this fresh controversy. There were. already discussions about the legality. of the strikes. in in general. Um. but now this second strike, what is. called in in military parlance a double.

tap, has raised many concerns on both sides. of the political aisle in the United. States. So, is it a war crime to kill. people who survive an initial strike and. and maybe wounded just trying to cling. to life? Many legal experts say it is. Uh of. course, the Geneva Convention says that. once enemy combatants, and there's also. the questions whether the question. whether these were enemy combatants, but. let's assume that they were.

Once enemy combatants are rendered. helpless, they have to be offered help. and they cannot be killed. So, this. would appear to be in contravention of. the Geneva Convention. Yeah, it's caused. a huge row. Some Democrats say it is a. war crime. What has the Trump. administration said? The Trump administration has all along. said that these strikes are an act of. self-defense. Of course, there's many people in the.

United States who've died because they. have consumed fentanyl, a very potent. drug which is 50 times as potent as as. heroin. And it argues that by targeting these. boats, which it says are carrying. fentanyl, it is saving the lives of. thousands and thousands of people who. thereby are not. taking fentanyl, which is, you know, by. preventing these drugs reaching the. country, these lives are being saved.

So, they have this. definition. of the people allegedly carrying these. drugs being out to kill Americans. And. therefore, they say that killing them. while they are allegedly transporting. these drugs is an act of self-defense. and it is therefore in their. uh logic legal. And specifically, what. have they said about this so-called. double tap strike? Well, President. Donald Trump has said that he actually.

would not have wanted such a second. strike, such a double tap, to have been. carried out. And actually, the Secretary. of Defense or Secretary of War, Pete. Hegseth, said that he did not give such. an order. So, he denied. um the reporting by the Washington Post. and called it fake news. However, uh the press secretary of um. the Trump administration, Caroline. Leavitt, had this to say.

With respect to the strikes in question. on September 2nd, Secretary Hegseth. authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct. these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley. worked well within his authority and the. law directing the engagement to ensure. the boat was destroyed and the threat to. the United States of America was. eliminated. Caroline Leavitt there. Now, as you said, the US has it's it's trying. to get rid of this danger posed to. people in America. Does it really stack. up, this justification?

I think the first thing we have to look. at is that the Trump administration has. repeatedly said that fentanyl was being. carried on these boats. I think that is. highly unlikely, mainly because fentanyl. isn't produced in Venezuela or in. neighboring Colombia. Fentanyl is mainly. produced in Mexico and therefore it. wouldn't make sense to go south from. Mexico to then smuggle it through. Venezuela back into the United States. The majority of fentanyl comes via the. land route across the US southern border.

and is actually mostly smuggled by US. citizens. So, that already I think we can dismiss. Do these boats carry other drugs like. cocaine? It's likely that some of them do. However, in this one strike that we're. talking about on the 2nd of September, there were 11 people on board this. relatively small vessel. So, what a lot. of people who specialize in. counter-narcotics are saying is that. normally when you have a boat carrying.

drugs, you try to minimize the weight. that it's carrying so that you can. maximize the amount of drugs you're. transporting. So, having 11 people on. board. is unlikely. I'm not saying that the. boat wasn't carrying drugs, it could. have been, but it probably also might. have been carrying migrants. trying to get to one of the neighboring. islands. So, there is the possibility. that at least some of those on board may.

not have been involved in any. trafficking. And of course, the Trump. administration has not provided any. public evidence of there being any drugs. on board. Now, as we were saying, this. was the first of a series of attacks on. boats. Something like 80 people have. been killed. Have there been any other. cases where there've been survivors? There have been. There was one case. where a semi-submersible vessel was. targeted and there were two survivors in. that strike. One Colombian national and. one Ecuadorian national. And the.

Ecuadorian national was actually. returned by the US officials to his home. country and uh he was actually taken to. the authorities there and they felt that. because he had not committed any crime. in Ecuador, he was free to leave. So, there the case was made that. there was no case against him. Now, where does this American campaign. against Venezuela, where does it go. next?

Many are saying that the size of the. deployment, the US deployment in the. Caribbean, is too large to be a. counter-narcotics operation, which which. is what the US has said time and time. again um is its stated aim. So, many are saying, of course, in the. Venezuelan government, but also in in. other um parts of the world, for. example, neighboring Colombia, that this. is an operation to remove Nicolas. Maduro, the president of Venezuela, from.

power. Vanessa Buschschlüter, our Latin America. online editor. Thank you. If you'd like to hear more international. news, then check out the Global News. Podcast wherever you get your BBC. podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe. And if you. want us to cover anything, please leave. a message in the comments below. But. that's it for now from the Global News. Podcast on YouTube.