The anti-drug fight puts human rights in check in Latin America

Days after the operation against “narco-terrorism” that left more than 100 dead in Rio de Janeiro, a new US attack on a vessel carrying drugs in the Caribbean has raised concern in the international community.

Shortly after the Brazilian government’s violent security operation in an area of favelas that left more than 100 dead, a new deployment in the “fight against drug trafficking” has raised concern in the international community. In this case, the launch of a missile by the United States at an alleged drug-trafficking vessel sailing in the Caribbean prompted responses from international organizations. Once again, overstepping the limits of international law is at the center of the dispute.

The news broke in recent days, when an alleged “narco speedboat” was intercepted and destroyed by the US government following a naval military deployment in the Caribbean. According to information released by Washington, three people died in the attack. The incident followed a similar attack in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Days before the attack in the Caribbean, the United Nations had issued a warning about the legitimacy of this type of operation.

After the new strike, the international body described the US government’s actions as “unacceptable.” Volker Türk, the UN commissioner, demanded a thorough investigation into the US military action and stressed that the attacks in the Caribbean and the Pacific “violated” international law. The body also noted that the Donald Trump administration’s justifications for these attacks rested on campaign slogans against drug trafficking and terrorism. It further indicated that attacks of this kind must be a “last resort” and that, otherwise, they would constitute a “violation of the right to life.”

This type of action in the name of the fight against drug trafficking has long sparked extensive debate. Episodes in countries such as Ecuador and Mexico, as well as the aforementioned case of Brazil, show how the limits on the use of force are put at risk in the pursuit of solutions to organized crime. This problem had already been raised more than a decade ago before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Anti-drug violence in Latin America: Mexico, Honduras, Brazil

In their report on the “impact of drug policies on human rights,” some ten civil and legal associations from across Latin America, including Argentina’s Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), warned about the consequences of the so-called “war on drugs.” In the document submitted to the IACHR in 2015, they warned that repressive force policies against “drugs” tended to violate the human rights of the most impoverished and marginalized sectors of society. 

Among the most prominent factors in this problem, the document described the so-called “militarization of anti-drug policies,” citing the case of Mexico as an example. Since 2006, according to the report, that country has seen a sharp increase in the use of lethal force and the deployment of national armed forces for security against drug trafficking. This process was matched by a proportional rise in recommendations and complaints from the National Human Rights Commission on this issue.

Mexican political scientist Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera recently offered her analysis on this subject. Speaking to the BBC about the situation in Mexico, the expert noted that using the armed forces for domestic security problems contributes to the construction of an “internal enemy.” This characterization, according to Correa-Cabrera, turned the country’s war on drug trafficking into a war “against the people” themselves.

The aforementioned 2015 submission to the IACHR also highlighted the case of Honduras. According to the published data, in 2011 the country had a rate of 92 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, a figure that ranked it first in the world for homicides. Although the phenomenon was linked to multiple causes, most cases were related to drug trafficking and military responses to the problem. Today, despite repressive actions, the presence of drug-trafficking structures has not ceased. In 2024, well-known local politician Carlos Zelaya (brother-in-law of President Xiomara Castro) was at the center of a scandal after a video of an alleged meeting with drug lords was released.

Meanwhile, the most recent case to gain international attention was that of Brazil, in the context of the security operation against the so-called Comando Vermelho. The violent deployment in two clusters of favelas, which left a toll of approximately 111 dead (the vast majority civilians), drew condemnation from Amnesty International representatives and a UN call for an immediate investigation.

Guillermo Whpei

President of Fundación para la Democracia