Canada ‘continues to monitor’ US boat in Caribbean as questions swirl and Allies squirm
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The federal government says it is keeping a close eye on deadly strikes by US forces on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, while continuing operations in the region.
Canada has conducted Operation Caribbe – a drug-trafficking operation in partnership with the United States Coast Guard – since 2006.
The Department of National Defense says the mission is unrelated to the US Air Force’s deadly drone strike.
“The actions of the US are allies and the Canadian armed forces (caf) are not participating,” wrote DND spokesperson, Nick Drycher Brown. “Canada continues to monitor the situation closely.”
The Department says there are no planned changes to operations in Caribbe, but “continually reviewing operational improvements to ensure they remain consistent with Canada’s legal obligations and best interests.”
At least 87 people have been killed in about a dozen US states in the Caribbean since September.
The strikes mark a major shift in US policy on drug trafficking in the Caribbean, which has shifted away from efforts to stop and arrest suspected dealers at sea and send them to the US to face prosecutors.
What should Canada do?
This shift has left Canada and other allies in an impossible position, according to Rob Huebert, director of the military, security and strategic studies center at the University of Calgary.
“I think the Government of Canada is very slow in its activities to ensure that Canadians are not caught in any kind of illegal activity, but on the same token they are trying to maintain this working relationship that we have,” Huebert told CBC News.
The United Kingdom suspended intelligence sharing with the US in the region in November. Colombia did the same.
France condemned the use of force at the G7 meetings in Canada, while Canadian officials remained silent on the topic.
The Trump administration is facing new pressure from some Republican lawmakers who want the full extent of a second counter-strike on a Venezuelan prize boat in the Caribbean to be made public.
Canada maintains its partner in the region is the US Coast Guard, not the US Air Force, which has been conducting strikes.
But Huebert said that’s a minor difference, considering both agencies fall under the War Department, and its secretary, Pete Hegseth.
“It probably allows a little bit of political cover,” Huebert said. “In terms of the actual communication that takes place, the US Coast Guard is part of the US military.”
The Washington Post reported that Hegseth ordered a second strike on a Venezuelan ship on September 2, aimed at killing survivors of the first strike.
The secretary of war later said that the strike was ordered by Admiral Frank Mitchell Bradley, but Hegseth accepted the decision – and the agricultural democrats doubted their mistakes.
Huebert said this leaves Canada with a difficult decision: Do we continue with Operation Caribbean despite an unexpected partner, or end the long-haul mission and face the consequences?
“From that, it’s clear that the Americans are not going to do anything to help us in terms of stopping drugs coming into Canada,” Huebert said. “They feed the most contradictions.”
He asked for an answer to the comments of Huebert, the spokesman for the White House, that all the drugs were against the “President of the narcoterrorists” and that the US President Donald Trump “will continue to use drugs to flood our country.”
Operation Caribbe has seized and seized more than 123 metric tons of cocaine since 2006. Ending the mission will have a political and Syrian undermining – a country already facing a growing cocaine problem.
Huebert said National Defense Minister David McGuinty can only make it clear Canada cannot participate in illegal activities, and hope that the Canadian armed forces are not drawn into any.
“It means a good solution,” Huebert said.
