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The family of a Colombian man was killed US military boat attack The first formal challenge has been filed for attacks on alleged drug-carrying boats.
His lawyers have argued in a petition to the leading human rights watchdog in the US that his death This was an extrajudicial killing.
Alejandro Carranza’s family’s petition states The army bombed his fishing boat On September 15, while he was sailing off the Caribbean coast of Colombia, in violation of human rights conventions.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights received the complaint on Tuesday, and when The Trump administration has said it supports As to the Commission’s work, the United States does not recognize the jurisdiction of any international court associated with the Commission. Therefore, any recommendations resulting from the family’s petition will not be binding.
The family’s attorney, Daniel Kowalik, said Carranza’s four children and spouse want compensation because their loved one was their primary breadwinner. He said the family chose the commission because of the obstacles facing the federal case, but the possibility has not been ruled out.
“The United States doesn’t hold itself to accountability, so we’re using the avenues that are in front of us,” Kovalik said Wednesday. “We believe that with public pressure a verdict in our favor can get us compensation and also end the killings in the Caribbean.”
Strikes that led to grievances
The US military has killed more than 80 people since early September, when it began attacking ships that the Trump administration said were carrying drugs to the US. The attacks began off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast and later spread to the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The US has also built up its largest military presence in the region in generations, which many see as part of a strategy to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to resign.
The Trump administration has given no details of those killed in the attacks, but has insisted that its intelligence confirmed that members of foreign terrorist organizations were operating the targeted ships.
On September 15, three people were killed in an attack by US forces. Asked at the time what evidence the US had that there were drugs on the ship, President Donald Trump told reporters that large bags of cocaine and fentanyl were scattered throughout the ocean. However, photographs of what Trump described were not released by the military or the White House.
Kowalik denied that Carranza’s boat had drugs on it and said he did not know whether there were other people on board. Kovalik, who is also representing President Gustavo Petro in the US after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on him, said he met with Carranzas at his home in northern Colombia.
Petro, the leftist leader of America’s traditional ally, has called the boat attacks “murder”, and questioned the disproportionate use of force.
The family says they are receiving threats after the allegations
The petition cites stories in The New York Times and The Washington Post regarding the family’s allegations and statements by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as evidence of Carranza’s murder. It also said that the family has been receiving threats since Carranza’s death.
“Victims in Colombia do not have adequate and effective resources to obtain compensation… Furthermore, even if such resources exist, victims cannot use them safely because they have been threatened by right-wing paramilitaries for denouncing the murder of Mr. Carranza,” according to the petition, which was first reported by The Guardian.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the complaint.
The attacks have come under increasing scrutiny after The Washington Post reported that Hegseth had issued a verbal order to “kill everyone” on the first boat targeted by the military and that an admiral had approved a follow-up attack, saying that two survivors of the initial attack had died. Hegseth said that the admiral “made the right call” and that he “had every authority to do so”.
Trump said on Tuesday that the US would soon begin launching ground strikes, although he did not specify where the strikes might take place other than Venezuela, including countries such as Colombia.
“You know, the lay of the land is very easy, very easy. And we know which path they take,” Trump told reporters. “We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad guys live. And we’re going to start doing that soon, too.”
Later, when asked to elaborate, Trump said he was speaking about countries that are manufacturing and selling fentanyl or cocaine. The President said he heard that Colombia was producing cocaine and selling it to the United States. Colombia is the world’s top cocaine producer.
“Anyone who is doing this and selling it in our country can be attacked,” Trump said. “Not just Venezuela,” he said after a moment.