The family of a Colombian fisherman killed in an attack by US forces in the Caribbean has condemned the US government before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and denied the man’s involvement in drug trafficking.
Alejandro Carranza left the coastal city of Santa Marta to fish in the open sea on September 15, and was found dead days later, his family told Agence France-Presse in October.
More than 80 people traveling in speedboats allegedly laden with drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific were killed in the US attacks.
“We know that Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense of the United States, was responsible for ordering the bombing of ships like the Alejandro Carranza Medina and killing all the people on board,” says the first official complaint about the deaths submitted to an international organization, which AFP was able to access on Wednesday (3).
He adds: “The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has approved the minister’s behavior.”
Dan Kovalik, a human rights specialist and the lawyer of Colombian President Gustavo Petro in the United States, is also the Carranza family’s lawyer and the one who filed the complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Other international organizations, such as the United Nations, have also questioned the legitimacy of attacks and extrajudicial killings.
In an interview with AFP in October, the fisherman’s widow, Catherine Hernandez, said Carranza was a “good man.” Al-Sayyad left behind four children, and according to the complaint, his family is now receiving threats from paramilitary forces in the area.
“He had no connection to drug trafficking and his daily activity was hunting,” Catherine said.
Petro promised to support the family and referred to the deaths as “extrajudicial executions.” Bilateral relations between Bogota and Washington, two historical allies, are going through a bad moment due to the ongoing clashes between the two presidents. The United States withdrew Colombia’s certification as an ally in the fight against drugs, and the sanctions imposed on Petro and his inner circle were doubled.
Trump accuses Petro of not doing enough to combat drug trafficking in Colombia, the country that is the largest producer of cocaine in the world.
The White House says attacks on boats will continue, despite criticism over controversial actions, including two attacks on the same boat to eliminate survivors.
International law does not consider attacks against combatants who do not pose an imminent danger to be lawful – unless there is a declared state of war, which is not the case. To protect itself legally, the Trump administration has classified drug trafficking groups in Latin America as terrorists, arguing that it is capable of acting against them in the same way that the United States acts against extremist groups in the Middle East.
Experts consulted by AFP say that the bombings do not prevent drug production and are a strategy to advance Trump’s “domestic agenda.”
The US government has reiterated that the next step in its fight against drug trafficking is action on the ground, especially in Venezuela, and is not ruling out attacks against other countries as well, Trump said on Tuesday.
For Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, who is serving a questionable third term in office, the attacks mask the true goal of the United States, which is to overthrow him.