More than 120 organizations demand an end to the complicity of third countries in US extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean

A global coalition of 125 organizations is issuing an urgent public appeal to all states to immediately cease all forms of support, active or passive, for the United States’ campaign of extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Since September 2025, the U.S. armed forces have killed more than 175 people aboard small boats in operations that the Trump administration characterizes as attacks against “narco-terrorists.” The international outcry underscores a shift from directly condemning U.S. actions to also holding third-party countries accountable for their role in these deadly attacks.

The coalition, which includes human rights groups, humanitarian organizations, drug policy advocates, and veterans’ groups, argues that these attacks constitute extrajudicial killings under international law. Legal experts and civil society say that because the deaths occur outside of any recognized armed conflict and without due process, they violate the fundamental right to life. Furthermore, the targets are often individuals only suspected of drug trafficking, which does not meet the legal threshold of an “imminent threat” or an “armed attack” required to justify the use of lethal military force.

“We are witnessing a continuation and a truly worrying normalization of these attacks against vessels,” warns Annie Shiel, US director of the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), the organization behind this statement, to which EL PAÍS has had access. “The United States is committing extrajudicial killings or murders, plain and simple.” Shiel believes it is imperative that states permitting these illegal attacks understand they must stop facilitating them; otherwise, they risk facing legal responsibility under international law.