Barbados Foreign Minister Kerrie Symmonds has voiced unease over recent U.S. military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean suspected of drug trafficking, warning that the actions may have bypassed due process and set a troubling precedent.
The concerns follow U.S. President Donald Trump’s order late last month to strike a boat off the coast of Venezuela, killing 11 people. Trump later confirmed that three more people were killed in a separate strike, saying both vessels were carrying drugs.
While some regional leaders, including Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, have praised Washington’s tougher stance on narcotics — with Persad-Bissessar declaring she had “no sympathy for traffickers” and urging U.S. forces to “kill them all violently” — Barbados is taking a more cautious view.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Symmonds said the region values U.S. support in curbing trafficking but stressed that the conduct of the two recent strikes raises serious legal and ethical questions.
“This is a matter that ought to be treated in the context of preserving the rule of law,” he said. “We would much prefer to see suspected criminals identified and interdicted. Folks who are suspected are usually arrested, tried, and if convicted, then sentenced. It is a dangerous and very slippery slope if we arbitrarily determine guilt and carry out assassinations.”
He warned that if innocent civilians were mistakenly targeted and killed, the region could face “a most difficult and disastrous incident.”
Symmonds said Caribbean Community (CARICOM) foreign ministers have written to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio seeking assurances that any future military actions will not destabilize the region or be undertaken without consultation. The letter also called for advance notice of operations likely to affect the Caribbean and for continued diplomatic engagement with Washington.
“So far there has been no formal response,” Symmonds confirmed.
