By Andrea de Silva
LAS CUEVAS, Trinidad and Tobago (Reuters) -Relatives of a Trinidadian man who say he was killed in a U.S. military strike on a boat in the Caribbean this week are demanding evidence to back up allegations by U.S. President Donald Trump that those who died were trafficking drugs.
Trump has ordered a large U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean and U.S. troops there have conducted at least six strikes on boats the administration says were involved in drug trafficking, without providing evidence.
At least 27 people have been killed. The U.S. has described some of them as Venezuelans, while Colombian President Gustavo Petro has suggested others were from his country.
Family members of 26-year-old Chad Joseph said they believe he was killed in a strike on Tuesday, along with another Trinidadian man named by some media as Rishi Samaroo.
“I’m feeling very hurt. You know why? Donald Trump took a father, a brother, an uncle, a nephew from families. Donald Trump don’t care what he is doing,” said Joseph’s cousin, Afisha Clement, 41, who said Joseph was humble, calm and a father figure to her young daughter.
“If you say a boat has narcotics on it, where is the narcotics? We want evidence, we want proof. There is nothing,” she added.
Joseph’s great-uncle, Cecil McClean, 93, called the strike “perfect murder”.
“There is nothing they could prove that they are coming across our waters with drugs,” McClean said. “How could Trump prove the boat was bringing narcotics?”
Family members said Joseph was a fisherman who had traveled to Venezuela, where he had relatives, to find work six months ago.
Joseph’s mother Lenore Burnley said she has so far not been contacted by anyone from Trinidad and Tobago’s government, adding she saw social media posts naming her son as one of those killed in the strike.
“I put everything in God’s hands, God will give me my satisfaction,” Burnley said, when asked what she would say to Trump.
The Trump administration has provided scant information on the strikes, including the identities of those killed or details about the cargos. A new strike on Thursday appeared to be the first to leave survivors, a U.S. official told Reuters.
Legal experts have questioned why the U.S. military is carrying out the strikes instead of the Coast Guard, which is the main U.S. maritime law enforcement agency, and why other efforts to halt the shipments aren’t made before resorting to deadly strikes. Democrats have said the administration has failed to provide Congress with any credible justification or intelligence to justify its actions.
The Trump administration argues it is fighting Venezuelan narcoterrorists, making the strikes legitimate.
Trump also confirmed on Wednesday that he authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in U.S. efforts to pressure Maduro, who the U.S. has accused of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups.
Maduro denies the accusations and has repeatedly alleged the U.S. is hoping to drive him from power.
Venezuela on Thursday asked the United Nations Security Council to determine that deadly U.S. strikes on vessels off its coast are illegal.
(Reporting by Andrea de Silva;Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb;Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
