Human character

Dear Readers, Countries reflect the morality of their occupants.  Citizenship, then, is about identifying the soul of the broader community.  This means morality has a dynamic quality and is not just about individual choices.

Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin are horrible historical figures from the last century and avatars of death and evil.  They each acquired power from the people and used it for self-aggrandizement.  In this sense, all Germans, Italians and Russians, who did not flee, are imbued with sin; indeed, this is true for those who followed “marching orders.”

This brings me to the murder of eleven (11) unnamed occupants aboard a Venezuelan small craft.  Our military blew this boat to smithereens with, likely, a Hellfire missile fired from a drone or helicopter.  We are all guilty of this illegal act, not just those acting pursuant to orders.

Venezuela is a chaotic mess and a regional “bad actor,” a major gateway for international drug trafficking.  In this sense, we have an interest in regime change.

Its economy is moribund, and probably 98% of its exports are oil.  It has the largest known reserves of oil in the world, yes, larger than Saudi Arabia and roughly 5 times our reserves.  Venezuela’s economy is heavily dependent on selling oil to China and India (principally) and helping to evade the sting of sanctions.

Because of President Nicolas Maduro’s despotic regime, about a quarter (7.9 million) of its citizens have fled the country.  This is disrupting its neighbors, causing lawlessness, homelessness and economic stress throughout South America; a third of displaced Venezuelan emigrees immigrated to Colombia.

The Trump administration tells us that a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, is controlled by Maduro and needs to be eradicated.  This apparition is the excuse for rounding up immigrants and shipping them around the world without notice and a hearing.  This is posited as a national emergency.

Maduro, and much of his cabinet, have been criminal outlaws since a wide-ranging indictment was announced on March 26, 2020 (the first Trump Administration) from the Southern District of New York.  Indicting a head of state is rare, but not unique.  In 1990, we invaded Panama, captured President Manuel Noriega, and hauled him in chains to Miami to face a similar drug-trafficking indictment.  He was eventually sentenced to 17 years in prison, released from U.S. custody after 10 years and died in a Panamanian prison in 2017.

Geographically, Panama and Venezuela are neighbors, separated by each having a common border with Colombia.  It’s not a stretch to envision President Trump ordering what was done nearly 30 years ago by President George H.W. Bush.  

Indeed, in an act of aggression, we have sent warships to the Caribbean outside Venezuela waters.  Maduro has responded with bellicose and one wonders if we are on the brink of war.  Up to this point, we are “coloring within the lines” of international law, approaching the brink of war-mongering.

Supposedly, the reason we obliterated this boat is that its cargo contained smuggled drugs.  Here are a series of important questions:  Who exactly was on the boat?  How do we know for sure there are drugs on it?  Reports are the boat may have been headed to Trinidad and Tobago, which may have been more consistent with people being smuggled than drugs.  If this indeed was drugs we were interdicting, why could we not send in the Coast Guard to stop, board and conduct arrests?  This is what we do every day. 

None of these questions has been adequately answered.  Neither the Department of Defense nor the President has fully explained this strike.  Under the War Powers Act, a post-action report needed to be given to Congress about the utilization of military force.  The report is bereft of details.

Under the common law, the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), and international law, a premeditated killing without legal justification is defined as murder.  Authorities are prosecuted in the Hague for such transgressions.  Vladimir Putin is a war criminal for his senseless killing of civilians to prosecute his Ukrainian incursion.  Benjamin Netanyahu, at least, can justify cleansing Gaza as a necessary evil because Hamas uses civilians as human shields.

No one has explained why we were provoked to blow up a small vessel.  The United States is the world’s leader on human rights.  We snuffed out 11 lives without legal justification.  Where there should be outrage and public condemnation of state-sponsored murder, it seems we are all impervious to shame.

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County, and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami.  Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000.  E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.