Norton blisters U.S. over military airstrikes against alleged narco-traffickers in Caribbean sea

Last Updated on Friday, 24 October 2025, 21:45 by Writer

Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton Friday condemned the United States (U.S.) military airstrikes on small boats and semi-submersibles that were allegedly ferrying cocaine to the U.S. from Venezuela and Colombia.

“I do not think anybody should be bombed just because they are labeled as narco-traffickers. In fact, I believe that the United States has the capacity to capture them, and bring them to trial. But I cannot ever support a situation where a sovereign State bombs people in another state over so-called drug trafficking,” Mr Norton, a political scientist and former foreign service officer, told a news conference.

Mr Norton’s position came one day after 11 former Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders suggested that the toughly negotiated Shiprider Agreement with the U.S. should have been used to go after drug traffickers and bring them to justice.

The PNCR leader cited the need for the rule of law to prevail locally and internationally in tackling narco-trade. “I would have difficulty, the APNU would have difficulty supporting that. We are anti-drug trafficking. We want to see drug trafficking reduced and ultimately gotten rid of but it has to be done within the confines of the law,” he added.

Up to Friday, the U.S. conducted its tenth deadly airstrike on a maritime vessel that the Trump administration alleged was fetching cocaine. So far 43 persons, including two nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, have been killed in those bombings.

The Trinidad and Tobago government has explicitly supported the U.S.’ presence and actions in the Caribbean Sea. The Guyana government, on the other hand, has lent its support for the “aspiration” of the Caribbean becoming a zone of peace while endorsing any action to go after narco-trafficking and other forms of security threats as well as the preservation of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

With the U.S. Pentagon having announced on Friday that it deployed an aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, alongside warships and airplanes, to the southern Caribbean Sea to “disrupt narcotics trafficking”, there are mounting fears that the Donald Trump administration was pushing for regime change in Venezuela – forcing out or toppling of Nicolás Maduro from power.