KINGSTOWN, St Vincent - Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday Thursday said that the recent United States military action against alleged illegal drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea that left at least three people, presumed to be St. Lucian nationals dead, is of “concern” to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday, speaking during the interview on the state-owned Agency for Public Information (API) on Thursday (CMC Photo)In an interview broadcast on the state-owned Agency for Public Information (API), Prime Minister Friday said that the Minister of National Security, St. Clair Leacock, would be addressing the nation on the matter later on Thursday.
“We have no official confirmation of this from any source other than there was a strike, there were casualties,” Friday said , adding “a lot of the information we have received is not official…but you know we can see what has happened and we heard the unofficial report and it is a matter that is very concerning to us.
“It is a very worrying situation for persons to operate in these waters, fishermen they go out and so forth and there is always the risk to them,” Prime Minister Friday said, adding that the police have since issued a notice “essentially cautioning people, but saying you can’t stop doing your business…and we will seek to find more concrete information from the sources who would have those answers”.
Earlier this week, the St. Lucia Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre said that his administration is “actively engaging through established diplomatic and security channels” after confirming that “people lost their lives” in the latest United States military strike against what Washington says are illegal drug dealers in the Caribbean Sea.
“I can confirm that people lost their lives and to the circumstances I have got no official notification on the circumstances surrounding their deaths,” Pierre told reporters, repeating that statement when asked by reporters whether those killed were St. Lucians.
“The issue is being investigated by the powers responsible for investigations,” he said.
Last Friday, the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said that at the direction of SOUTHCOM Commander General. Francis L. Donovan, the Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Three narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” SOUTHCOM said in a statement.
SOUTHCOM has since released a video of the attack that appears to show a missile strike on the boat which then explodes into flames, leaving the vessel obliterated.
Last Saturday, the St. Vincent Times newspaper published photographs of what it said were the remnants of an alleged drug boat blown up in a lethal strike by the US military last week that surfaced off Canouan, one of the Grenadine islands.
It said that the discovery was made by a group of fishermen from the mainland who had indicated that no bodies were seen floating in the area.
International law and human rights experts have repeatedly said such attacks by the Donald Trump administration amount to extrajudicial executions, even if those targeted are alleged to be engaged in trafficking drugs.
Last month, the families of two Trinidadian men killed in a US strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat have filed a lawsuit against the US government.
Lawyers filed the claim in Boston’s federal court on behalf of relatives of Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, among six men killed off the coast of Venezuela on October 14 last year.
Prime Minister Friday told the state media agency that discussions would probably have to be held with US authorities “to get more definitive answered as to what transpired and what is likely to be the future with respect to these things.
“But naturally, we seek confirmation as to location and all of those things and how it affect our own territorial integrity, but those are matters we are still investigating and it is quite troubling however to hear of the incidents of that sort that put fear in the hearts of people travelling up and down in the waterways and that is something we will seek to address so that our people can continue to do their operations, especially the fisherfolk….to pursue their livelihoods.
“When we receive official confirmation and definitive information from the relevant authorities we will certainly make it available because they are important to bringing some level of comfort, some level of information to our people.”
Friday, who is also a resident of the island of Bequia, one of the islands in the Grenadines, said as an “archipelagic country, the seas, they are our highway…and we are seeking to make that seamless as possible” with people moving up down the area by boat.
“That is just the way in which we have conducted ourselves. We worry about the waves and we worry about the winds, and we don’t want to have to worry about security coming from the possible strikes and other matters that may introduce new risks to them.
‘As it is now, what we do encourage is that persons be alert, to be aware and to continue to operate their business as they would want to,” Friday said.
