The UK has ceased sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean because it believes the US bombing campaign against vessels in the region is illegal and doesn’t want to be complicit, CNN reported on Tuesday.
The report comes as the US military has ramped up its bombing campaign against boats in the region and has expanded it to the Eastern Pacific. Since the first strike was launched on September 2, the US has blown up 20 boats and has killed at least 75 people, according to numbers released by the Trump administration.
The administration has labeled each person it has killed a “narco-terrorist,” a term it used to justify extra-judicial executions for a crime that doesn’t receive the death penalty in the United States.
The CNN report said that the UK, a close ally and intelligence-sharing partner of the US, has long helped the US locate suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean, where the UK has several overseas territories. The US previously used that information to intercept the vessels and treat anyone on board as suspected criminals, with the right to due process.
Sources told CNN that the UK believes the US strikes on alleged drug boats are a violation of international law. Canada has also sought to distance itself from the illegal bombing campaign, and has reportedly conveyed to the US that it will continue to cooperate with the US Coast Guard in the Caribbean, but doesn’t want its intelligence being used for the boat strikes.
France has also condemned the US attacks in the region as illegal. “We have observed with concern the military operations in the Caribbean region, because they violate international law and because France has a presence in this region through its overseas territories, where more than a million of our compatriots reside,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Tuesday. “They could therefore be affected by the instability caused by any escalation, which we obviously want to avoid.”
The Trump administration has also faced internal opposition to the bombing campaign, with lawyers specializing in international law in the Department of War’s Office of General Counsel raising concerns about the strikes’ legality.
The US military commander overseeing US Southern Command, Adm. Alvin Holsely, has also reportedly raised concerns about the bombing campaign and is stepping down from his post just one year into his command, a highly unusual step for a career military officer in his position.
