World

Trinidadian Families Seek Justice After US Boat Strike Deaths

By Brian Osgood

Families of two Trinidad and Tobago men, Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, marked the one‑year anniversary of their disappearance on October 14, 2025, by demanding accountability from the United States. The men were killed in a US military missile strike on a vessel returning from Venezuela. The families are pursuing a wrongful‑death lawsuit in Massachusetts, supported by the American Civil Liberties Union. They argue that Joseph and Samaroo were fishermen and farm workers, not drug traffickers. Joseph’s mother, Lenore Burnley, said the loss of her son has been devastating and that the lawsuit is a step toward justice. Samaroo’s youngest sister, Sallycar Korasingh, expressed similar grief and a desire for answers. The US has conducted a campaign of attacking small boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September 2025, claiming the vessels carried “narco‑terrorists.” Critics describe the strikes as an illegal campaign of extrajudicial killings. Since the campaign began, at least 239 people have been killed, but the US government has provided little evidence that those on board were trafficking drugs and has not publicly identified the victims. Other families, including that of Colombian fisherman Alejandro Carranza, have filed complaints with the Inter‑American Commission on Human Rights. Legal scholars note that even if the victims were involved in criminal activity, the strikes would still constitute extrajudicial killings under international law, as drug trafficking is a civilian crime, not an act of war. The lawsuit is being heard by a federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, and is supported by the ACLU’s National Security Project and the Center for Constitutional Rights. The families and their legal representatives urge Congress and the executive branch to end the campaign before more lives are lost.