This week, President Trump sent a note to Congress: the United States is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, he determined. A designation which justifies the strikes against boats of alleged drug traffickers off the coast of Venezuela. But which constitutes a new worrying step in the appropriation of powers by the administration, say experts.
“It is not even a small exaggeration, it is an explosion of legal paradigms,” said Rachel Vanlandingham, professor of right to the Southwestern Law School, in Los Angeles.
THE New York Times revealed the sending this week of the confidential note this week to various Congress committees. The Trump administration had already ordered at least three strikes against boats supposed to transport drug traffickers in September, killing 18. A fourth took place on Friday, announced the secretary of war Pete Hegseth, killing 4 people.
“It is an a posteriori justification, because the administration was growing on both sides, a democrat as a republican, on the legal basis of the use of the lethal force on behalf of the American people,” added the professor, a retired lieutenant-colonelle.
The explanation is therefore not surprising in the context. But the redefinition of the concept of “armed conflict” is still new.
War powers
In international law, to speak of non -international “armed conflict” – which does not imply two states -, we must meet certain criteria: an army goes in combat against an armed group if it is organized and shows sufficient violence. The rules surrounding the use of force in wartime cannot be used to put an end to internal disorders or stop bandits, for example.
“It is very significant, to speak of armed conflict, because it triggers war powers that are vast and dramatic,” notes Allen S. Weiner, lecturer and director of the international and compared program of the Stanford Law School.
“It is not a metaphor like“ war against drugs ”or“ war against poverty ”; It allows you to use legal means related to war, he says. What is called the combatant’s privilege is the authorization, in wartime, to kill an enemy soldier, regardless of circumstances, even if he is in his bath. And to hold enemies without accusation for the duration of the conflict. »»
Upon his arrival, Donald Trump had announced a fight against drug cartels, notably designating the Tren of Aragua group as a terrorist organization. This appellation allowed expulsions of individuals suspected of being members, asset freezing, the criminalization of financial support, recalls Rachel Vanlandham, without giving the possibility of directly aiming for its members in bombardments.
Attack
After September 11, the United States government had launched a war against Al-Qaeda, a non-state terrorist organization. The powers of war then invoked had been challenged, but the Supreme Court had agreed to the Bush administration, citing attacks on American soil and the downstream given by the Congress.
This time, the Congress, which has the power to declare a war, was not consulted – Trump is far from being the only commander -in -chief to have overcome these elected officials, however.
In addition, the United States can hardly say that it is attacked. Even if, last month, after an American strike against a boat near Venezuela, vice-president JD Vance had written on social networks that “the murder of Cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the best use of our army”.
But from a legal point of view, the argument appears difficult to support. Especially since there is nothing unprecedented in the intensity of criminal activity linked to the drugs currently.
The redefinition of “armed conflict” is also dangerous for the signal it sends to other nations on the interpretation of international law, says Mr. Weiner, and on the door thus open to justify killing people by designating a group as an enemy in an armed conflict.
Venezuela
The strikes have so far targeted boats off Venezuela, even if the drug cartels are present on a much larger territory. President Trump accused President Nicolás Maduro – whose electoral victory was widely challenged by the international community – drug trafficking.
Photo Zurimar Campos, Archives Agency France-Presse
Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro
Does the White House actually try to put pressure on the diet?
NBC News reported last week that a plan to target targets inside Venezuela was currently awaiting authorization. If he received the green light, he could lead to an escalation in the region. The Venezuelan president has also granted widened powers a few days ago, according to The world, By invoking these threats.
With the New York Times
