The plane that US forces used in September for the first attack on a drug smuggler's boat in the Caribbean Sea was painted to resemble a civilian plane, the New York Times and the Washington Post reported. According to experts, this may constitute a war crime of perfidy.

According to newspapers citing officials privy to the matter, the plane from which the first smugglers' boat was hit on September 2, 2025 it was repainted to resemble a civilian one and had no visible weapon attached to the wing. The Washington Post reported that the attack was carried out using a launcher from inside the machine.

Experts on the law of armed conflict quoted by the newspapers suggest that this practice violates the provisions of the Geneva Conventions on the prohibition of perfidy in war. One instance of perfidy is pretending to have civilian status during a military attack.

General on the “crime of perfidy”

Retired Gen. Steven J. Lepper, cited by the NYT, a former deputy judge-attorney general of the United States Air Force, said that if the plane had been painted in a way that masked its military nature and had come close enough for those aboard the boat to see it – deceiving them and preventing them from taking defensive action or surrendering – it would have constituted a war crime under the standards of armed conflict.

Hiding your identity is a sign of perfidy, said Lepper. – If an aircraft flying over a target is not identified as a combat aircraft, it should not be engaged in combat operations – he added.

A war against cartels, terrorism or survivors?

The Sept. 2 attack had already sparked allegations of a war crime committed by U.S. forces when it was revealed that the military had killed two boat passengers who survived the initial attack and clung to the wreckage of the speedboat. The procedures in this regard were later changed. In at least three cases where the impacts did not kill all crew members, the survivors were not killed.

The attacks on smugglers' boats themselves were considered unlawful by critics from the beginning. President Donald Trump's administration justifies it by citing the war waged against non-state actors, which it considers to be drug cartels officially recognized by the White House as terrorist organizations. So far, U.S. forces have carried out at least 35 attacks, killing 115 people.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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